Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, says the company would have to charge users if they want to opt out of data-driven advertising on the social media platform.
During an interview with Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, Sandberg said Facebook does not sell or give away information on users, but "our service depends on your data." On Wednesday, Facebook revealed that up to 87 million users had their personal information improperly shared with the data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica leading up to the 2016 presidential election, and Sandberg acknowledged to Guthrie that Facebook did not properly handle the breach.
"It is definitely the case in 2016 that we were behind and we didn't understand that kind of election interference," she said. "We thought that the data had been deleted, and you're right, we should have checked."