DATA BREACH: UK may slam Facebook with £500,000 fine

Facebook is to receive the heaviest fine possible from the UK’s data watchdog after it breached the Data Protection Act twice.

The maximum fine the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) is able to impose is £500,000 — a figure that’s pretty minimal compared to Facebook’s net worth of £445bn.

“The ICO’s investigation concluded that Facebook contravened the law by failing to safeguard people’s information,” reads a statement. “It also found that the company failed to be transparent about how people’s data was harvested by others.”

Earlier this year, evidence revealed that an app had been used to “harvest the data of 50 million Facebook users across the world.” That figure has since been updated to a colossal 87 million.

Read also: USER TRACKING: US Congress questions Apple, Google       

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said the world is currently “at a crossroads” as trust and confidence in “democratic processes” are at risk of being disrupted because most voters don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.

“Fines and prosecutions punish the bad actors, but my real goal is to effect change and restore trust and confidence in our democratic system,” said Denham.

Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer, Erin Egan, said they’re “reviewing” the ICO’s report and will respond in due course.

“As we have said before, we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015,” said Egan in a statement emailed to Mashable.

 

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