FB BESIEGED BY WALL STREET, US, EUROPE

The company on Tuesday was beset on two continents by governments suddenly focused on data security and investors unliked its stock to the point that it lost $60 billion in value.

The Menlo Park, California, company, whose social network is a ubiquitous venue for social and political life, is drawing the unaccustomed unwelcome attention after the disclosure that it released the personal data of 50 million users to an analytics firm that helped elect President Donald Trump. The company, Cambridge Analytica, has been implicated in dirty tricks in elections around the globe.

Facebook has struggled to respond to the fast-moving imbroglio, and even Facebook workers have been in the dark. The company held a staff meeting Tuesday to address their questions about what Facebook knew and when. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg plans to address employees on Friday at a previously scheduled allhands meeting. Some of the latest developments are:

Parliaments request Zuckerberg’s presence Zuckerberg may have to do a tour of European parliaments to appease lawmakers. Damian Collins, head of a UK parliament committee investigating the impact of social media on recent elections, invited Zuckerberg to answer for a “catastrophic failure of process.” Shortly thereafter an invitation followed from European Parliament President Antonio Tajani.

Separately, EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said she also plans to discuss the matter with Facebook during a visit in the US this week while Italian telecommunications regulator AGCOM requested Facebook to provide information on data use. US regulators would like a word The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into whether Facebook broke the terms of a 2011 consent decree. The FTC is the lead agency for enforcing companies’ adherence to their own privacy policies and could fine the company if it finds Facebook violated the agreement.