EU urges Facebook to cooperate fully in data scandal

THE EUROPEAN Commission called on Facebook to “cooperate fully” with investigators into the scandal over the harvesting of personal data of millions of users that were then shared with the British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Facebook has admitted up to 2.7 million people in the EU may have been caught in the scandal. And last week the EU said that its justice commissioner, Vera Jourova, would hold phone talks with Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to discuss what the company is doing to address the breach, which may have affected 87 million people around the world. Confirming that a telephone conversation took place earlier Thursday, Jourova said that she “urged Facebook to fully cooperate with the European investigators, also on the highest level from the company.” The discussion with Sandberg had been “constructive and open,” Jourova said. “I have asked a number of questions on the Cambridge Analytica case. Of my particular concern is the information of European citizens affected by the scandal.”

She had been told that Facebook had started to inform people “this week,” the commissioner continued. “I urged Facebook to take all the necessary steps to mitigate any potential negative consequences for the users in the future. I was informed that Facebook is planning an extensive audit on all those apps, but that it will take a long time,” Jourova said. And she said she had advised that Facebook chief, Mark Zuckerberg, “should accept the invitation to the European Parliament.”