Trump administration confirms probe against Facebook over data breach
Washington, March 27: The Trump administration on Monday confirmed that Facebook is under stringent investigation into its privacy practices, amidst allegations that its connection with British company Cambridge Analytica resulted in misuse of personal data of some 50 million users.
The moves comes few days after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted mistakes and outlined steps to protect user data in light of a privacy scandal involving data-mining firm, Cambridge Analytica. The US Federal Trade Commission in a statement confirmed that it has an "open non-public investigation" into Facebook's privacy practices.
Acting Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Tom Pahl in a statement said, “The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook.” Pahl said the FTC is firmly and fully committed to using all of its tools to protect the privacy of consumers.
"Foremost among these tools is an enforcement action against companies that fail to honour their privacy promises, including to comply with Privacy Shield, or that engage in unfair acts that cause substantial injury to consumers in violation of the FTC Act," he said in a statement. Pahl further added saying, "Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements."
Earlier, in the month, Indian IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad raised suspicions that Congress has a tie-up with Cambridge Analytica which have allegedly shared confidential data of Facebook users to help in the poll campaign. While advising Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to pay attention to India's IT minister's warning, Union Minister asked Congress President Rahul Gandhi to explain the role of Cambridge Analytica in his social media profile.
Cambridge Analytica met with Congress leader in last August to present a plan to help Congress win 2019 general elections through a data-driven strategy to target voters on social media, analyzing online user behaviour and connecting the dots across different citizen databases.
Hours after Ravi Shankar Prasad’s press conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted mistakes and outlined steps to protect user data in light of a privacy scandal involving data-mining firm, Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica was created in 2013 to participate in American politics. It is an offshoot of British firm Strategic Communication Laboratories, which provides data, analytics and strategy to governments and military organizations worldwide. Some of its key campaigns include 2016 US Presidential elections for Donald Trump and Leave EU campaign in the very early stages of its Brexit campaign.
