Facebook faces data fine in U.K.

LONDON — Facebook is facing its first financial penalty for allowing the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to forage through the personal data of millions of unknowing Facebook users.

The social media giant faces a $663,000 fine for failing to protect the personal information of its subscribers following an investigation into the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal by the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office.

Theproposedfineannounced Wednesday is the maximum possible for the scandal, which first broke in March. While the penalty is small for Facebook, it is a warning shot for companies that now face fines of up to 2 percent of global revenue under European Union data protection regulations rolled outlater,inmay.

The announcement came after an investigation into Cambridge Analytica, which declared bankruptcy this year following allegations that it used personal information harvested from 87 million Facebook accounts to help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The ICO is also conducting a wider probe into the use of data analytics by other political campaigns.

The penalty is a pittance for Facebook, which generates that sum roughly every seven minutes, based on its first-quarter revenue of $11.97 billion.

Noah Berger The Associated Press file Facebook is being hit with a fine of $663,000, which the company generates roughly every seven minutes, based on its first-quarter revenue of $11.97 billion.