The Cambridge academic at the centre of a row over the use of Facebook users’ private data has dismissed claims the information could have been used to influence voters.

Facebook will investigate "tens of thousands" of apps to discover if any other companies have accessed data in a similar way to Cambridge Analytica (CA), Mark Zuckerberg has told US politicians.

A watchdog told Facebook that relying on developers to follow information rules in some cases was not good enough two years before a "data grab" on millions of users is said to have taken place.

Facebook is under fire following reports that the personal data of 50 million users were obtained by an analytics firm that helped elect US president Donald Trump.