Facebook Fined Only £500k by the U.K. for Cambridge Analytica Scandal
The maximum fine by law.
Facebook remains under fire following its Cambridge Analytica scandal, as the social network is now being fined £500,000 EUR by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). ICO has fined Mark Zuckerberg and the company approximately $664,000 USD (the maximum fine by law) for lacking suitable privacy protection, allowing the scandal to ensure despite significant warnings on the situation, and for not warning its users sufficiently.
Although the penalty is not final and is likely to be met with appeals from Facebook, the social platform’s chief privacy officer, Erin Egan, has said: “We have been working closely with the ICO in their investigation of Cambridge Analytica, just as we have with authorities in the US and other countries [...] We’re reviewing the report and will respond to the ICO soon.”
ICO also questions if the platform’s data is safe from other third-party apps, as Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham wrote in the ICO report that other third-party companies involved in the scandal haven’t been transparent on what’s been done with its collected data. Over 172 and 285 organizations and individuals were investigated by ICO, respectively.
In related news, Facebook is testing augmented reality news feed ads.
