Facebook Privacy Concerns Drag Down US Markets

US markets have closed lower, after worries over a Facebook data breach pulled down tech stocks.

The Dow Jones lost 1.4 percent to 24,610. The S&P 500 also fell 1.4 percent to 2,712, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dropped 1.8 percent to 7,344.

Facebook itself suffered the biggest hit, diving 6.8 percent following reports that Cambridge Analytica, the data analysis firm hired by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, stole information from 50 million Facebook user profiles to help design software to predict and influence voters' choices.

But other large technology firms, including Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet and Netflix lost around 1.5 percent or more on worries that additional scrutiny could result in regulations that crimp growth at many of the stock market's leading lights.

"What this has done has sparked a conversation that will probably affect quite a few of these tech names," said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade.

"If there's any sort of changes or regulation that comes out of this, it'll be applied across the board to all these companies that are using data." (AFP)