Further details have emerged about when and how much Facebook knew about data-scraping by the disgraced and now defunct Cambridge Analytica political data firm. Last year a major privacy scandal hit Facebook after it emerged CA had paid GSR, a developer with access to Facebook’s platform, to extract personal data on as many as 87M […]
View More Facebook staff raised concerns about Cambridge Analytica in September 2015, per court filingCategory: DCMS committee
UK parliament calls for antitrust, data abuse probe of Facebook
A final report by a British parliamentary committee which spent months last year investigating online political disinformation makes very uncomfortable reading for Facebook — with the company singled out for “disingenuous” and “bad faith” responses to democratic concerns about the misuse of people’s data. In the report, published today, the committee has also called for […]
View More UK parliament calls for antitrust, data abuse probe of FacebookIs Europe closing in on an antitrust fix for surveillance technologists?
The German Federal Cartel Office’s decision to order Facebook to change how it processes users’ personal data this week is a sign the antitrust tide could at last be turning against platform power. One European Commission source we spoke to, who was commenting in a personal capacity, described it as “clearly pioneering” and “a big deal”, […]
View More Is Europe closing in on an antitrust fix for surveillance technologists?Seized cache of Facebook docs raise competition and consent questions
A UK parliamentary committee has published the cache of Facebook documents it dramatically seized last week. The documents were obtained by a legal discovery process by a startup that’s suing the social network in a California court in a case related to Facebook changing data access permissions back in 2014/15. The court had sealed the documents […]
View More Seized cache of Facebook docs raise competition and consent questionsEurope dials up pressure on tech giants over election security
The European Union has announced a package of measures intended to step up efforts and pressure on tech giants to combat democracy-denting disinformation ahead of the EU parliament elections next May. The European Commission Action Plan, which was presented at a press briefing earlier today, has four areas of focus: 1) Improving detection of disinformation; 2) […]
View More Europe dials up pressure on tech giants over election security“The problem is Facebook,” lawmakers from nine countries tell Zuckerberg’s accountability stand-in
A grand committee of international parliamentarians empty-chaired Mark Zuckerberg at a hearing earlier today, after the Facebook founder snubbed repeat invitations to face questions about malicious, abusive and improper uses of his social media platform — including the democracy-denting impacts of so-called ‘fake news’. The UK’s DCMS committee has been leading the charge to hold Facebook […]
View More “The problem is Facebook,” lawmakers from nine countries tell Zuckerberg’s accountability stand-inUK parliament seizes cache of internal Facebook documents to further privacy probe
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg may yet regret underestimating a UK parliamentary committee that’s been investigating the democracy-denting impact of online disinformation for the best part of this year — and whose repeat requests for facetime he’s just as repeatedly snubbed. In the latest high gear change, reported in yesterday’s Observer, the committee has used parliamentary powers […]
View More UK parliament seizes cache of internal Facebook documents to further privacy probeNow eight parliaments are demanding Zuckerberg answers for Facebook scandals
Facebook’s founder is facing pressure to accept an invite from eight international parliaments, with lawmakers wanting to question him about negative impacts his social network is having on democratic processes globally. Last week Facebook declined a invitation from five of these parliaments. The elected representatives of Facebook users want Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions in […]
View More Now eight parliaments are demanding Zuckerberg answers for Facebook scandalsFacebook must change and policymakers must act on data, warns UK watchdog
The UK’s data watchdog has warned that Facebook must overhaul its privacy-hostile business model or risk burning user trust for good. Comments she made today have also raised questions over the legality of so-called lookalike audiences to target political ads at users of its platform. Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham was giving evidence to the Digital, […]
View More Facebook must change and policymakers must act on data, warns UK watchdogCampaign tool supplied to UK’s governing party by Trump-Pence app dev quietly taken out of service — thanks to GDPR
An app that the UK’s governing party launched last year — for Conservative Party activists to gamify, ‘socialize’ and co-ordinate their campaigning activity — has been quietly pulled from app stores. Its vanishing was flagged to us earlier today, by Twitter user Sarah Parks, who noticed that, when loaded, the Campaigner app now displays a message informing users […]
View More Campaign tool supplied to UK’s governing party by Trump-Pence app dev quietly taken out of service — thanks to GDPRFake news ‘threat to democracy’ report gets back-burner response from UK gov’t
The UK government has rejected a parliamentary committee’s call for a levy on social media firms to fund digital literacy lessons to combat the impact of disinformation online. The recommendation of a levy on social media platforms was made by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee three months ago, in a preliminary report following […]
View More Fake news ‘threat to democracy’ report gets back-burner response from UK gov’tZuckerberg must face public scrutiny over latest data breach, say UK MPs
UK members of parliament have once again called for Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, to travel to the country to face questions about how his business operates. They’re renewing calls for facetime with the Facebook CEO in light of the massive data breach it disclosed on Friday — which the company said could affect as many as […]
View More Zuckerberg must face public scrutiny over latest data breach, say UK MPs