Facebook plunged to its worst loss in four years Monday and led a rout in technology companies. The social media company’s stock fell following reports that a data mining firm working for the Trump campaign improperly obtained data on 50 million Facebook users. Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer and head of technology research for GBH Insights, said Facebook is in a crisis, and it will have to work hard to reassure users, investors and governments. “This is a defining moment for them,” he said. “It either becomes a blip on the radar and it helps the platform mature… or it becomes the start of something broader.” Facebook said Friday that the data mining company Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained data on some of its users, and that it had suspended Cambridge while it investigates. Facebook said the company obtained data from 270,000 people who downloaded a purported research app that was described as a personality test. The New York Times and the Guardian reported that Cambridge was able to tap the profiles of more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Facebook first learned of the breach more than two years ago but hadn’t disclosed it. A British legislator said Facebook had misled officials while Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg should testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Facebook sank $12.78, or 6.9 percent, to $172.31, it biggest loss in four years. CEO Zuckerberg lost around $5 billion dollars.
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