EU lawmakers, UK regulator press Facebook on data breach EU Parliament invites Facebook boss to speak on data breach

EU lawmakers, UK regulator press Facebook on data breach

AFP/File / Emmanuel DUNANDFacebook's shares fell sharply after the data breach revelations

European lawmakers demanded answers from Facebook on Tuesday over a major data breach, as Britain's information watchdog sought a warrant to search the London offices of the analysis firm involved.

Facebook has launched its own investigation into claims that data from up to 50 million of its users was harvested by a British company, Cambridge Analytica, and used in US President Donald Trump's election campaign.

But it was forced to suspend the probe late Monday following a request from Britain's information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, who is making her own inquiries into both companies.

She is seeking court approval to conduct her own searches at Cambridge Analytica, which has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

"We are seeking a warrant so that, as the regulator, we can go in and get to the bottom, search the servers, do a data audit," Denham told BBC radio.

"We are also looking at Facebook at the same time, so our advice to Facebook was to back away, let us get in there as a regulator and do our work, and they have agreed."

A British parliamentary committee called on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to personally explain to them what happened with "this catastrophic failure of process".

But committee chairman Damian Collins said Facebook officials had "consistently understated" the risk of data being taken from users without consent.

Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the European Parliament's liberal group, also called Tuesday for an investigation into what he said was an "absolute scandal".

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, who has called the breach "horrifying", will meanwhile seek clarification from Facebook during a visit to the United States this week.

US lawmakers have already called on Zuckerberg to appear before Congress, along with the chief executives of Twitter and Google.

They said the firms have "unprecedented amounts of personal data" and the lack of oversight "raises concerns about the integrity of American elections as well as privacy rights".

Amid fears of a regulatory crackdown, Facebook shares fell by 6.8 percent on the Nasdaq index on Monday and were down two percent at $169.17 in early trading on Tuesday.

- Safeguards in place -

Facebook says the data was taken without its knowledge or consent, and has suspended the accounts of Cambridge Analytica and some of its associates.

It has hired forensics firm Stroz Friedberg to "conduct a comprehensive audit" of the British firm, which it said had agreed to comply and provide access to its servers and systems.

Their experts were at the company's London offices on Monday night when the information commissioner asked them to withdraw.

Although her focus is on Cambridge Analytica, Denham said on Tuesday there are questions about whether Facebook had adequate safeguards in place to protect its users' data.

"There are provisions in the Data Protection Act that require a platform like Facebook to have strong safeguards in place," she said.

"So, we are looking at whether or not there were safeguards, and whether or not Facebook acted appropriately when things went wrong."

Cambridge Analytica has also strongly denied the allegations against it.

A former employee claims it developed an app downloaded by 270,000 people to scoop up information about their friends, which were then used to design software to predict and influence voters' choices at the ballot box.

The company blames the academic who developed the app, University of Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, for misusing the data.

It says the data was never used on the Trump campaign, and has anyway been deleted.

Facebook says Kogan violated their rules by passing the data onto a third party, and the app was removed in 2015.

It said he and Cambridge Analytica had confirmed the data had been destroyed, but recently found out this was not the case.

EU Parliament invites Facebook boss to speak on data breach

AFP/File / Emmanuel DUNANDFacebook's shares dipped after the data breach revelations

The European Parliament on Tuesday invited Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to speak following revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump's US presidential campaign harvested data on 50 million users.

The parliament and the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, have already called for an urgent investigation into the scandal.

"We've invited Mark Zuckerberg to the European Parliament," its President Antonio Tajani tweeted.

"Facebook needs to clarify before the representatives of 500 million Europeans that personal data is not being used to manipulate democracy."

Facebook has faced worldwide criticism over the claims that Cambridge Analytica, the UK data analysis firm hired by Trump's 2016 campaign, harvested and misused data on 50 million members.

The European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt, a Belgian former prime minister, also called on the Facebook chief to personally answer the criticisms.

"When is Mark Zuckerberg going to explain what happened with our data? The data breach is an absolute scandal," tweeted Verhofstadt, who heads the parliament's liberal group.

"The European Parliament must start an investigation."

The EU parliament's civil liberties committee on Monday sent a letter to Facebook asking it to testify before the body, a parliamentary spokesperson told AFP.

British lawmakers on Monday also asked Zuckerberg to give evidence to a UK parliamentary committee on the data row.

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova, who has called the breach "horrifying", was seeking to meet with Facebook during her visit this week to Washington.

Her office said she had also called on independent European data protection authorities who are meeting Tuesday in Brussels to probe the growing Facebook scandal.

"Commissioner Jourova would encourage setting up a taskforce to investigate this case," as the authorities did last year with a similar breach by cab firm Uber, her office said.

Britain's Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has already said her office would seek a court warrant on Tuesday to search Cambridge Analytica's computer servers.

Britain has voted to leave the EU but remains a member state until next year.

EU digital commissioner Mariya Gabriel told a press conference on Tuesday "we are constantly following this case as it unfolds."

Gabriel added that the EU will say "loud and clear" that "the protection of personal data is a core value for the European Union."

copy  https://www.afp.com/