On Tuesday , Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg underwent round one of grillingin front of the US Senatefollowing allegation that his multi - billion dollar sign tech company has been mishandling people ’s personal data .

Just before Zuckerberg sat down at Capitol Hill , Facebook announced its newData Abuse Bounty curriculum to honor hoi polloi who report any abuse of data by app developers .

Building on their existing bug bounty programs , the novel system will effectively pay people who report and provide evidence that a Facebook platform app is improperly using people ’s data point by stealing it or using it for scams and political influence . They will also inform people who have been strike by the scams . The rewards will start at around$500 , according toAFP ,   and will increase calculate on how serious or widespread the misuse is .

“ While there is no maximal , mellow impact glitch reports have garnered as much as $ 40,000 for people who get them to our attention , ” Collin Greene , Head of Product Security at Facebook , said inan promulgation .

Facebook ’s datum insurance policy have been squeeze into the limelightfollowing reportsthat UK data firm Cambridge Analytica , which has ties to President Trump ’s 2016 presidential campaign , improperly obtained data from Facebook . Much of this data was gather by an innocent - looking quiz called " This Is Your Digital Life " , then   shared with Cambridge Analytica , and then used to target political adverts to unknowing user .

Carole Cadwalladr , one of the lead journalist behind the recent Cambridge Analytica revelations , was quick to make a sally about Facebook ’s new course of study :

Facebook is urgently trying to prove it is taking stair to improve transparency and its handling of personal information . One of the other move it has made has regard unwrap to its 2.2 billion active userswhether or not their informationwas mishandled . It ’s estimated 87 million people , 71 million of whom are in the US , were affected by the data falling out . You canclick here to seeif you are one of the moved users .

While this hebdomad ’s hearings in Congress have helped to clear up a few questions , with lots of admissions that “ we made mistake , ” it ’s now undecipherable what will come next for the societal media giant . The net was once say to be like a free but outlaw Wild West . Well , it count like old Sheriff Zuckerberg has now been tasked with cleaning up his town of Facebook . Just like the Old Frontier , there are even bounties for the capture of outlaw .