Facebook Says 50M User Accounts Hit By Security Breach

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Facebook says it recently discovered a security breach affecting nearly 50 million user accounts.

The company says hackers exploited the "View As" feature on the service. Facebook says it has taken steps to fix the security problem and alerted law enforcement.

The latest news comes as Mark Zuckerberg's company has been under fire this year in the worst privacy crisis in its history after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, gathered personal information from 87 million users to try to influence elections.

In April, Zuckerberg testified before Congress about its policies and practices in protecting its users' personal information.

Not long after Zuckerberg started Facebook while he was still 19 years old, he mocked the people entrusting him with their emails, pictures and other sensitive information while instant messaging with a friend. The exchange was obtained and published in 2010 by Business Insider.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)