Facebook may be subject to an extensive European Union survey of its advertising platform. There are ongoing concerns about the way the social network protects its data and so an investigation has now been requested by the British privacy watchdog.
Yesterday the ICO submitted a 113-page report to the British Parliament. This report deals with the way in which malicious people use Facebook to manipulate voters, among other things. The fact that Facebook’s international headquarters are located in Ireland means that the Irish Data Protection Commission will be dealing with the investigation.
Constant worries
In the report, the ICO states that they are constantly concerned about how Facebook is targeting its ads specifically to certain users. The social network does this by mapping the behaviour of individuals on the internet. The data might not be well protected. In addition, fake advertisements still appear on the social network. Under GDPR, the IDPC is the main authority when it comes to Facebook’s EU activities. We will work with both the Irish regulator and other national data protection authorities to develop a long-term strategy on these matters.
These concerns, according to a watchdog spokesman, fall outside the scope of the investigation that is still taking place around Cambridge Analytica. These are not the same cases for which Facebook was fined earlier by the British. That is why this matter has been referred to the Irish watchdog.
High fines
It is possible that the whole thing will lead to a high fine for Facebook. Under GPDR, companies can be fined up to 4 percent of global annual sales. For Facebook, that could run into billions. Since there are currently several ongoing investigations into the practices of Facebook and the company is being strongly criticized, CEO Mark Zuckerberg will not be happy.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
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