Internal documents Facebook has fought to keep private obtained by UK Parliament
Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers
Documents alleged to contain revelations on data and
privacy controls that led to Cambridge Analytica scandal
Carole Cadwalladr Sat 24 Nov 2018 18.50 EST
Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal
Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant
to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer
MPs’ questions.
The cache of documents is alleged to contain significant
revelations about Facebook decisions on data and privacy controls that led to
the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is claimed they include confidential emails
between senior executives, and correspondence with Zuckerberg.
Damian Collins, the chair of the culture, media and sport
select committee, invoked a rare parliamentary mechanism to compel the founder
of a US software company, Six4Three, to hand over the documents during a
business trip to London. In another exceptional move, parliament sent a
serjeant at arms to his hotel with a final warning and a two-hour deadline to
comply with its order. When the software firm founder failed to do so, it’s
understood he was escorted to parliament. He was told he risked fines and even
imprisonment if he didn’t hand over the documents.
“We are in uncharted territory,” said Collins, who also
chairs an inquiry into fake news. “This is an unprecedented move but it’s an
unprecedented situation. We’ve failed to get answers from Facebook and we
believe the documents contain information of very high public interest.”
The seizure is the latest move in a bitter battle between
the British parliament and the social media giant. The struggle to hold
Facebook to account has raised concerns about limits of British authority over
international companies that now play a key role in the democratic process.
Facebook, which has lost more than $100bn in value since
March when the Observer exposed how Cambridge Analytica had harvested data from
87m US users, faces another potential PR crisis. It is believed the documents
will lay out how user data decisions were made in the years before the
Cambridge Analytica breach, including what Zuckerberg and senior executives
knew.
MPs leading the inquiry into fake news have repeatedly
tried to summon Zuckerberg to explain the company’s actions. He has repeatedly
refused. Collins said this reluctance to testify, plus misleading testimony
from an executive at a hearing in February, had forced MPs to explore other
options for gathering information about Facebook operations.
“We have very serious questions for Facebook. It misled
us about Russian involvement on the platform. And it has not answered our
questions about who knew what, when with regards to the Cambridge Analytica
scandal,” he said.
“We have followed this court case in America and we
believed these documents contained answers to some of the questions we have
been seeking about the use of data, especially by external developers.”
The documents seized were obtained during a legal
discovery process by Six4Three. It took action against the social media giant
after investing $250,000 in an app. Six4Three alleges the cache shows Facebook
was not only aware of the implications of its privacy policy, but actively
exploited them, intentionally creating and effectively flagging up the loophole
that Cambridge Analytica used to collect data. That raised the interest of
Collins and his committee.
A Facebook spokesperson said that Six4Three’s “claims
have no merit, and we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously”.
The files are subject to an order of a Californian
superior court, so cannot be shared or made public, at risk of being found in
contempt of court. Because the MPs’ summons was issued in London where
parliament has jurisdiction, it is understood the company founder, although a
US citizen, had no choice but to comply. It is understood that Six4Three have
informed both the court in California and Facebook’s lawyers.
Facebook said: “The materials obtained by the DCMS
committee are subject to a protective order of the San Mateo Superior Court
restricting their disclosure. We have asked the DCMS committee to refrain from
reviewing them and to return them to counsel or to Facebook. We have no further
comment.”
It is unclear what, if any, legal moves Facebook can make
to prevent publication. UK, Canada, Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, Singapore and
Latvia will all have representatives joining what looks set to be a high-stakes
encounter between Facebook and politicians.
Richard Allan, vice-president for policy who will testify
at the special session after Zuckerberg declined to attend, said the company
takes its responsibility around “a number of important issues around privacy,
safety and democracy ... very seriously”.
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