And of course it's obligatory to point out that these companies did not actually have access to any "special" data, they merely had the same, normal access that

And of course it's obligatory to point out that these companies did not actually have access to any "special" data, they merely had the same, normal access that hundreds of thousands of app developers had at the time, and which required them to convince a Facebook user to allow access to their account. These companies were merely allowed to keep the older, slightly wider access, for a little while longer than you and me.