For Facebook, an actual data breach would be better. They could button things up and make some statements and move on.
This appears to have been systemic and profitable for them because companies would turn around and pay them for highly targeted ads. They ignored it because of greed.
Yep. If/when the 50M profiles become public, Facebook will be bending over backwards to rebrand this as a breach. However, on the (Twitter) record, their CISO has already said emphatically this was not a breach. He's been demoted.
This appears to have been systemic and profitable for them because companies would turn around and pay them for highly targeted ads. They ignored it because of greed.