Facebook’s back is against the wall yet again
On Tuesday, UK authorities announced that Facebook will be charged £500,000 for the Cambridge Analytica scandal. According to the authorities, Facebook failed to keep data of its users safe, and simultaneously, it did not inform users of how Cambridge Analytica used their data for political gain.
In March, a scandal about Facebook and its involvement with political data company Cambridge Analytica surfaced. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office started an investigation of Facebook’s relationship with Cambridge Analytica and found that Facebook shared millions of users’ data with the company for political purposes.
Facebook Chief Privacy Officer had this to say about the investigation on Tuesday:
As we have said before, we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015. We have been working closely with the ICO in their investigation of Cambridge Analytica, just as we have with authorities in the US and other countries. We’re reviewing the report and will respond to the ICO soon.
The fine is not finalized, and Mark Zuckerberg still has a chance to rebut the allegations with an explanation of how Cambridge Analytica acquired the data. However, it does not seem that he will be able to slide out of this one, as the investigators have acquired many servers that contain terabytes of data.
Although most people thought this case was put to bed when Zuckerberg agreed to testify in court, the ICO believes that this data breach could have affected more people than originally thought. Look out for a Facebook response in the coming days – it will be interesting to see how they defend themselves against these strong allegations.
Featured image via Public Domain Pictures
