The Federal Trade Commission released a statement Monday confirming its Bureau of Consumer Protection is investigating Facebook's privacy practices in the wake of news that Cambridge Analytica used illegally harvested data from 50 million Facebook users without their permission.
CNN:
The FTC previously settled a complaint against Facebook in 2011 for falling short of privacy promises to its users. Among other issues, the FTC found Facebook allowed third-party applications to access more user data than they needed to operate.
As part of the settlement, Facebook was told to get the "express consent" of users "before sharing their information beyond their privacy settings." The FTC is reportedly looking into whether Facebook violated the settlement.
Companies who have settled previous FTC actions must also comply with FTC order provisions imposing privacy and data security requirements. Accordingly, the FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices.”
Lawmakers also are formalizing their requests to have Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg testify.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) officially invited Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to a hearing on data privacy on April 10.
Zuckerberg will be asked about "Facebook's past and future policies regarding the protection and monitoring of consumer data," according to a statement from the committee. The House and Senate Commerce committees have already invited Zuckerberg to testify at hearings of their own.
CNN:
Separately on Monday, a bipartisan group of 37 state attorneys general sent a letter to Zuckerberg asking for details about Facebook's user privacy safeguards.
The letter asks Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to detail when his company learned that data were being used by the firm Cambridge Analytica, how many Facebook users’ information was taken and what policies exist to make sure consumers give consent before their personal information is used by third parties.
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The letter was signed by top attorneys in 34 states including New York, Illinois and New Jersey. It was also signed by attorneys general for Guam, American Samoa and the District of Columbia.
The attorneys general wrote that they want a “full accounting” of what happened and that they are “profoundly concerned” by news reports that personal data from up to 50 million Facebook users might have been used by Cambridge Analytica to target political messaging during the last presidential campaign.
And Cook County, Illinois has filed a lawsuit against Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, alleging the two companies violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
Cambridge Analytica, which was hired by President Donald Trump’s campaign, deceived the millions of Illinois Facebook users whose information it collected, alleges the lawsuit, filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court. And Facebook failed to protect its users’ privacy and misrepresented how their data would be used, the lawsuit says.
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At least five lawsuits have been filed in federal court in Northern California over the alleged misuse of user data. Those include a suit from a Facebook shareholder who is seeking class-action status, claiming he and other company shareholders have suffered losses and damages since the Cambridge Analytica news was first reported, and another from a woman seeking class-action status over Facebook and Cambridge Analytica’s alleged improper data collection.
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The [Cook County] suit asks that both companies be fined $50,000 for each violation of the law and that Cambridge Analytica be fined an additional $10,000 for each day a violation affecting an Illinois resident age 65 or older has existed.
Facebook data practices under investigation, FTC confirms (CNN)
Cook County sues Facebook, Cambridge Analytica after alleged misuse of millions of Illinoisans' data (Chicago Tribune)
Statement by the Acting Director of FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices (FTC statement)
Grassley, FTC, states turn screws on Facebook amid data flap (Politico)