The data wars began in earnest last month, with revelations that my former company Cambridge Analytica had access to the data of 87m Facebook users without their permission. This breach was far from exceptional: the social network’s policies have allowed thousands of companies, apps and data brokers to collect and use similar data for years.

We learn more about their irresponsible practices every day: last week the platform casually acknowledged that all 2.2bn users might have had their public profiles compromised.

As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg prepares to testify to US Congress about the breaches, citizens are waking up to the carelessness with which his company has handled our personal data. The conversation about forcing the “free” platforms to adopt responsible practices is starting. This is long overdue.