Facebook Begins Hill Briefings on Cambridge Analytica Alleged Privacy Violations
Facebook officials began briefings on Capitol Hill Tuesday amid lawmakers' rising scrutiny of allegations that political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica misused private information of more than 50 million Americans on behalf of President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. Lawmakers were demanding hearings on the claims, though Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica and affiliate Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) for violating its guidelines for user data collection (see 1803190056). Cambridge Analytica's board said Tuesday it suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending a full independent investigation into claims about the company's actions. The FTC, meanwhile, began an investigation into data-scraping claims, three informed people confirmed to us.
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The FTCs investigation will focus in part on whether Cambridge Analytica's actions show Facebook violated its 2011 consent decree that ended the agency's previous examination of whether the social media company made deceptive claims about user privacy (see 1111300105), the people said. Facebook could face a fine of up to $40,000 per violation if the FTC decides the company violated the decree, they said. “We are aware of the issues that have been raised but cannot comment on whether we are investigating,” an FTC spokeswoman said: “We take any allegations of violations of our consent decrees very seriously as we did in 2012 in a privacy case involving Google” that resulted in a $22.5 million settlement (see 1208100031 or 1208100035 or 1208100069). Facebook is “strongly committed to protecting people’s information,” said Deputy Chief Privacy Officer Rob Sherman in an emailed statement. “We appreciate the opportunity to answer questions the FTC may have.”
Facebook officials plan to brief aides from six Hill committees on the controversy through Wednesday -- the House and Senate Commerce, Intelligence and Judiciary committees, the company said. Senate Commerce aides' briefing is set for Wednesday, lobbyists said. Cambridge Analytica co-founder Christopher Wylie plans to meet with House Intelligence Democrats at the invitation of ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Wylie lawyer Tamsin Allen. Such staff briefings need to be “only the beginning” of Facebook's appearances on the Hill to address lawmakers' concerns, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Senate Commerce “will make a decision” on whether it wants to hold a hearing on the controversy, including compelling CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify, based on the outcome of Facebook officials' briefing and the company's responses to a committee questionnaire, committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters: “It's not outside the realm of possibility” that such a hearing could happen. Senate Commerce leaders' letters to Zuckerberg and SCL CEO Nigel Oakes sought information by March 29. “Consumers rely on platforms like Facebook to be transparent and truthful in their terms of service so consumers can make informed decisions about whether to consent to the sharing and use of their data,” Thune, Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, wrote Zuckerberg: Facebook is working “to address this situation,” but it's “troubling” the company “has either not been transparent with consumers or has not been able to verify that third party app developers are transparent with consumers.”
The social media platform sent a team of independent forensic auditors to Cambridge Analytica's London office Monday evening, but the team aborted the probe and yielded to officials from the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office, which is planning its own investigation. Facebook’s actions could have potentially compromised a regulatory investigation, ICO said Monday. “This is a complex and far reaching investigation for my office and any criminal or civil enforcement actions arising from it will be pursued vigorously,” Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said . Facebook hired digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg to audit Cambridge Analytica, which agreed to allow full access to its servers and systems. “This is part of a comprehensive internal and external review that we are conducting to determine the accuracy of the claims that the Facebook data in question still exists," Facebook said. "If this data still exists, it would be a grave violation of Facebook’s policies and an unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments these groups made.”