IT’S ALWAYS THE EMAILS THAT GET YA

Facebook has turned over internal emails to regulators that appear to show that CEO Mark Zuckerberg was at least partially aware of third parties amassing user data from the social network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the emails, said that documents handed over to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) show Zuckerberg’s close involvement in addressing third-party data collection on Facebook’s platform.

In April 2012, Zuckerberg asked his employees about an app purported to have amassed a database of millions of Facebook users’ information gleaned from the platform. Facebook employees responded that it was possible the app had collected the data, but that it would be complicated for Facebook to intervene.

The Journal did not review the emails in question but rather relied on its sources’ characterization of the documents.

The report comes amid heightened scrutiny over Facebook and other tech giants’ handling of user data and privacy.