Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits mistakes on Facebook scandal

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted mistakes, and outlined steps to protect user data in light of a privacy scandal.

He said he would introduce changes that would make it harder for third-party apps to harvest users' information, the BBC reported.

"I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I'm responsible for what happens on our platform," he said in a statement on his Facebook page.

He said that Facebook has a "responsibility" to protect its users' data, and "if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you."

Facebook's latest privacy scandal involves Trump campaign consultants who allegedly stole data on tens of millions of Facebook users in order to influence elections.

Zuckerberg is breaking more than four days of silence about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cambridge Analytica may have used data improperly obtained from roughly 50 million Facebook users to try to sway elections.

Criticism has been brewing as Zuckerberg and his No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, have been quiet since the Cambridge Analytica story broke last weekend. Twitter users have been asking, using the "WhereIsZuck" hashtag.

He said the company will do three things:

1) Investigate all large apps that were allowed to get data not just on their own users, but on those users' friends, before Facebook changed its policies in 2014, and ban any developers that don't agree to an audit. The company will tell affected users if they find problems.

2) Remove developer access to data if someone hasn't used that app in three months, and reduce the type of information the app gets when users sign in.

3) Work to make sure people understand who has access to their data, showing everyone a tool at the top of the News Feed in the next month, and making it easy to revoke permissions.

"I know it takes longer to fix all these issues than we'd like, but I promise you we'll work through this and build a better service over the long term," Zuckerberg said.

Kenya's opposition says lawyers are poring through a British broadcaster's investigation to see whether legal action is possible against Cambridge Analytica over its role in the country's disputed presidential election last year. Cambridge Analytica already is being investigated by British and U.S. authorities.

-AP, Bloomberg