The social networking giant was not the only one on Wednesday to come under scrutiny by the British regulator, which began its investigation into the use of data in political campaigns early last year, focusing on the potential misuse of personal information during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Collins’ parliamentary committee will publish its own report later this month on online misinformation and data use in political campaigns. “If other developers broke the law we have a right to know, and the users whose data may have been compromised in this way should be informed,” he said. Facebook has the right to respond to the regulator’s fine before a final decision is made in the case.ĭamian Collins, the British lawmaker leading a parliamentary investigation into the political use of data, said Facebook should provide more information on other third-party apps that also may have harvested people’s data without their knowledge.

“We’re reviewing the report and will respond to the ICO soon,” said Erin Egan, the company’s chief privacy officer. and other countries’ authorities in ongoing investigations around the world.

In response, Facebook said it had taken steps against Cambridge Analytica in 2015 to shut down inappropriate collection of data, and that it is working with U.K. If the abuse had occurred under Europe’s new privacy standards, which came into force on May 25, the company could have been subject to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in financial penalties. The fine is a mere rounding error compared to Facebook’s $5.9 billion profit in the first three months of 2018.

David carroll professor privacy pro