How Bad Is Facebook’s New China Problem?

Another shoe dropped in the New York Times investigation of Facebook’s deals with phone makers across the world: A Chinese connection emerged, touching the data scandal to the politically electric topic of the United States’ biggest economic rival.

Beginning in 2007, Facebook cut deals with 60 phone manufacturers to put versions of the service onto their devices, and among those companies were four Chinese manufacturers, including Huawei, which U.S. intelligence services have repeatedly linked to the Chinese government. Earlier this year, the heads of the NSA, FBI, and CIA warned against using Huawei phones.

Also in 2007, Bain That is to say, this was a concern Facebook knew or should have known even back in the era when these deals were negotiated.