Japan rebukes Facebook for gathering data through 'likes'

TOKYO -- A Japanese government body on Monday directed Facebook to be more transparent and strengthen guards on personal information, following European authorities in pushing back against the social networking giant as hacks and its own tools leave data exposed.

The Personal Information Protection Commission's warning, which did not accuse the company of violating any laws, focused on how users can inadvertently have their data sent to Facebook through external sites displaying its "like" button. It also faulted Facebook's responses to a major data leak through a third-party app and another through a hacking attack uncovered last month.