Facebook referred to EU watchdog over targeting and fake ads
Facebook referred to EU watchdog over targeting, fake ads
By Kate Holton November 6, 2018
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's information watchdog has asked
Facebook's lead European regulator to investigate how the company targets,
monitors and shows adverts to users, saying it was concerned about some
practices at the world's biggest social network.
Britain's Information Commissioner has been investigating
the use of data analytics to influence politics after consultancy Cambridge
Analytica obtained the personal data of 87 million Facebook users from a
researcher.
The British watchdog said on Tuesday as part of that
inquiry it had also found broader issues at Facebook, which it had referred to
Ireland's data regulator, the lead supervisor for the social network in the
European Union.
A spokeswoman for the British watchdog said it had been
made aware of fake political adverts on the network.
Facebook said it looked forward to discussing the matter.
"We regularly engage with regulators regarding our advertising tools,
which we believe fully comply with EU data protection laws," a spokeswoman
said.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) said it would
assess the information and decide what steps were required.
Under the EU's Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),
a firm found to have broken data processing and handling rules can be fined up
to 4 percent of their global revenue of the prior financial year, or 20 million
euros ($23 million), whichever is higher. Facebook had total revenue in 2017 of
$40.7 billion.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed the role that
personal data plays both for marketers and political groups in the internet
age.
The political consultancy was able to harvest the data of
87 million people after a researcher created an app that was downloaded by
270,000 people, providing access not only to their own but also their friends'
personal data.
Cambridge Analytica worked on Donald Trump's U.S.
presidential campaign in 2016.
"Citizens can only make truly informed choices about
who to vote for if they are sure that those decisions have not been unduly
influenced," Britain's Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a
report to lawmakers published on Tuesday.
"We have uncovered a disturbing disregard for
voters’ personal privacy," Denham said. "Social media platforms,
political parties, data brokers and credit reference agencies have started to
question their own processes – sending ripples through the big data eco-system."
The Commissioner has also launched audits into the role
of credit reference agencies such as Experian and sent assessment notices to
data brokers including Acxiom as it seeks to understand the market for buying
and selling personal data.
Acxiom said in a statement that it would cooperate fully
with the Information Commissioner and that in Britain it does not host, offer
or process any "special category" data, as defined by the GDPR, that
includes political data.
"Staff must undertake yearly training and exams and
as part of ensuring compliance with applicable data protection law, Acxiom
underwent and passed an independent data protection audit by the Direct
Marketing Association in May this year," it said.
The GDPR was brought in by the EU in May to protect personal
information and has forced the different online players to make sure they have
permission from users to handle their data.
The British Commissioner has already slapped the highest
possible fine of 500,000 pounds ($653,800) on Facebook for the misuse of data,
but said on Tuesday it was referring other outstanding issues to Ireland.
"We have referred our ongoing concerns about
Facebook’s targeting functions and techniques that are used to monitor
individuals’ browsing habits, interactions and behavior across the internet and
different devices to the to the Irish Data Protection Commission," the
British watchdog said.
The BBC in October reported that a fake political advert
had been posted to Facebook. Facebook had said earlier in October that advertisers
that mentioned political figures, material or parties would be obliged to
provide evidence of their identity and location and state on Facebook who was
paying for the ad.
Facebook has also sought to give users more control over
their privacy by making data management easier.
Credit data company Experian said it was aware of the UK
watchdog's concerns.
"As a highly regulated business, we work closely
with regulators and strictly comply with data protection laws in all of the
countries that we operate in, and we remain vigilant when it comes to data
security and integrity," it said in a statement.
(Reporting by Kate Holton, Alistair Smout and Kylie
MacLellan in London and Noor Zainab Hussain; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark
Potter)
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