Facebook sparked a debate over how it handles third-party access to the data of its users after it said that the Cambridge Analytica firm, which has ties to the 2016 Trump campaign, improperly kept information for years despite saying it had destroyed those records.
Over the weekend, both U.S. and British lawmakers criticized the social network for failing to provide information as to how the data firm gained access to data about tens of millions of Facebook users without them giving their explicit permission.
“This is a big deal, when you have that amount of data. And the privacy violations there are significant,” said Senator Jeff Flake, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “So, the question is, who knew it? When did they know it? How long did this go on? And what happens to that data now?”
Damian Collins, the UK lawmaker who chairs a parliamentary committee on media and culture, expressed his intention to ask Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to testify before the group as part of its investigation into how Britain’s referendum decision to exit the EU was affected by social media manipulation.
Late on Friday, Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica as well as two individuals, Aleksandr Kogan, a psychology professor from the University of Cambridge, and Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge, on the basis of “reports” that the two had violated Facebook policies pertaining to how third-party developers can deploy user data they obtained from the company.
The social network added that after learning in 2015 that Kogan broke Facebook policy, it demanded that the data he and third parties obtained be deleted. However, Facebook also said that it learned this month that the records were not destroyed.
Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers should investigate how Cambridge accessed the data. “We need to find out what we can about the misappropriation of the privacy, the private information of tens of millions of Americans,” he said on Sunday.
Last year’s disclosure that a group of pro-Kremlin actors manipulated Americans during and after the 2016 U.S. election is very reminiscent of the activity disclosed Friday, where outsiders harvested Facebook user data and deployed it seemingly out of public view.
“This could be a data privacy reckoning for Americans. It’s a wake-up call,” said David Carroll, an advocate for increased regulation of Facebook.
Paul Grewal, Facebook’s deputy general counsel, said in a statement that the company was working to determine if reports that the data in question still exists were true.
“We are in the process of conducting a comprehensive internal and external review as we work to determine the accuracy of the claims that the Facebook data in question still exists,” he noted. “That is where our focus lies as we remain committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information.”
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