Facebook relaxed its own rules to give these 61 companies special access to user data

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook told US lawmakers that while it imposed new data-sharing restrictions on the majority of app developers in May 2015, 61 companies received a special "one-time" extension.
The list of companies includes Nike, Spotify, and UPS. It is unclear why these companies, in particular, received the extension.
In addition, Facebook found five companies which theoretically could have accessed restricted friends' data as a result of beta tests.
The revelation comes after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the data of 87 million Facebook users was compromised.

Facebook has confessed to breaking its own rules to give 61 companies special access to user data.

In a 747-page document handed to the US House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, Facebook said app developers could request Facebook data including name, gender, birthdate, location, photos, and page likes.

In April 2014, Facebook introduced a new, more restricted API (application program interface) which required that new apps go through a review and approval process, and prevented new apps from accessing friends' data without review. It also gave users more granular controls over what data an app operating on the new platform could access.

Most already-existing apps on the platform had until May 2015 to comply with these changes before being migrated to the new API, and becoming subject to the new review and approval process. But 61 companies were given an extension of "less than six months" after the May deadline to come into compliance.

Here is the full list of firms given special treatment:

ABCSocial, ABC Television Network
Actiance
Adium
Anschutz Entertainment Group
AOL
Arktan / Janrain
Audi
biNu
Cerulean Studios
Coffee Meets Bagel
DataSift
Dingtone
Double Down Interactive
Endomondo
Flowics, Zauber Labs
Garena
Global Relay Communications
Hearsay Systems
Hinge
HiQ International AB
Hootsuite
Krush Technologies
LiveFyre / Adobe Systems
Mail.ru
MiggoChat
Monterosa Productions Limited
never.no AS
NIKE
Nimbuzz
NISSAN MOTOR CO / Airbiquity Inc.
Oracle
Panasonic
Playtika
Postano, TigerLogic Corporation
Raidcall
RealNetworks, Inc.
RegED / Stoneriver RegED
Reliance/Saavn
Rovi
Salesforce/Radian6
SeaChange International
Serotek Corp.
Shape Services
Smarsh
Snap
Social SafeGuard
Socialeyes LLC
SocialNewsdesk
Socialware / Proofpoint
SoundayMusic
Spotify
Spredfast
Sprinklr / Sprinklr Japan
Storyful Limited / News Corp
Tagboard
Telescope
Tradable Bits, TradableBits Media Inc.
UPS
Vidpresso
Vizrt Group AS
Wayin

Serotek, an accessibility app for blind and visually impaired people, received an eight-month extension.

It is not clear in the document exactly why these companies received extra time to adapt to the new restrictions. Business Insider has contacted Facebook for comment.

Facebook also admitted that it discovered five companies could have theoretically gained access to restricted friends' data as the result of a beta test. Those identified were: