Facebook was fined in the UK.
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The UK Information Commissioner’s Office followed through with its strategy to fine Facebook ₤500,000 ($645,000 or AU$912,000) over the harvesting of users’ information.
The firm stated in its charge notification that information from a minimum of 1 million British users was “unfairly processed” which Facebook “failed to take appropriate technical and organisational measures” versus that occurring.
The fine, connected to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, is the optimum quantity enabled under the Data Protection Act1998 The ICO provided the initial fine in July.
“Facebook failed to sufficiently protect the privacy of its users before, during and after the unlawful processing of this data. A company of its size and expertise should have known better and it should have done better,” Elizabeth Denham, the details commissioner, stated in a declaration.
“We considered these contraventions to be so serious we imposed the maximum penalty under the previous legislation. The fine would inevitably have been significantly higher under the GDPR.”
Facebook kept in mind that it’s examining the choice, highlighting the previous admission that it “should have done more” to penetrate the Cambridge Analytica declares in 2015.
“We are grateful that the ICO has acknowledged our full cooperation throughout their investigation, and have also confirmed they have found no evidence to suggest UK Facebook users’ data was in fact shared with Cambridge Analytica,” a Facebook representative stated in an emailed declaration.
“Now that their investigation is complete, we are hopeful that the ICO will now let us have access to CA servers so that we are able to audit the data they received.”
The fine is certainly a portion of the quantity Facebook might have dealt with if the General Data Protection Regulation— the EU law that provides people more control over their individual information– had actually been in result. The GDPR would’ve enabled an optimum fine of 20 million euros or 4 percent of a business’s yearly international earnings from the year prior to, whichever is greater.
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The social media giant’s annual revenue in 2017 was nearly $40 billion, which would have meant a possible fine of $1.6 billion under the GDPR rules.
The ICO didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, said at a privacy conference Wednesday at the European Parliament in Brussels that the company would support comprehensive federal privacy regulation in the US.
First published Oct. 25, 2:10 a.m. PT.
Update, 3:37 a.m. PT: Added new Facebook statement, with a line about Cambridge Analytica servers. Update, 9:30 a.m. PT: Added ICO statement.
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