Facebook faces UK fine over Cambridge Analytica inquiry

Facebook could be fined ₤500,000 (Dh2.4 million) by the United Kingdom’s privacy regulator after the social network company failed to prevent user data falling into the hands of a political consultancy that helped get Donald Trump elected to the United States presidency in 2016. The Information Commissioner’s Office is threatening the company with the maximum penalty allowed, it said yesterday when issuing its first findings in an investigation that looked at about 30 organisations, including social media platforms such as Facebook. The company is accused of not properly protecting user data and not sharing how people’s data was harvested by others. In its report it also said several overseas regulators and agencies had requested updates to help move forward their own investigations. “Given this, and the high-public interest issues raised by this work, this report has been put together to consistently inform all parties as to our progress at this time,” the ICO said. UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said the fine “sends a clear signal that I consider this a significant issue, especially when you look at the scale and the impact of this kind of data breach”. She added: “Facebook has failed to provide the kinds of protections they’re required to do under data protection laws.” The revelations that data belonging to as many as 87 million Facebook users and their friends may have been misused was a “game changer” in the world of data protection, Denham said. Her office is leading the European investigations into how such an amount of data – most belonging to US and UK residents, she said – could have ended up in the hands of a consulting firm that worked on Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign. Facebook will have a chance to respond to the proposed penalties.