£25bn is wiped off Facebook as fury grows over harvesting row

FACEBOOK saw £ 5billion wiped off its value yesterday as the backlash over harvesting the personal details of 50million accounts intensified.

Shares in the social media giant fell 6.7 per cent to their lowest in five years.

MPs demanded the firm be brought to heel as Theresa May’s spokesman said the allegations surrounding Facebook and British data firm Cambridge Analytica were ‘very concerning’.

Digital minister Margot James yesterday said the Government should force web giants to sign a code of conduct and warned the public needed ‘protection’ from the ‘Wild West’ industry.

Asked about Cambridge Analytica, which allegedly used the personal data of Facebook users to predict elections, Mrs James said: ‘That cannot go unchecked, unanswered. The harms are too great.’

European Parliament president Antonio Tajani weighed in, claiming the findings constituted ‘an unacceptable violation of our citizens’ privacy rights’.

It came as scores of Twitter users posted the hashtag: ‘Boycott Facebook’. Yet in the wake of criticism, Facebook’s Europe chief refused to answer questions at a conference yesterday.

Nicola Mendelsohn spent half an hour quizzing pop star Nicole Scherzinger on whether she preferred heels or flat shoes – but did not address the harvesting allegations. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also remained silent.

Speaking at the same event – the Advertising Week conference in London – Mrs James said that there was ‘increasing scepticism’ that social media giants would be able to regulate themselves voluntarily.

Her comments came as MPs debated the controversy, with Culture Secretary Matt Hancock warning Facebook it has ‘serious questions to answer’.

He stressed the importance of the Data Protection Bill currently passing through Parliament in bringing social media companies to heel.

Facebook, which has strongly denied it had breached its users’ data, said it had hired a digital forensics team to investigate Cambridge Analytica.