Facebook fined £500k (which will take it 18 mins to pay off!)

Facebook faces the maximum fine from the UK data watchdog for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but it’s a tiny proportion of the company’s multi-billion revenues. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which has been investigating how political groups use personal data to target adverts during campaigns, says it’s intending to fine Facebook £500,000 for breaking the Data Protection Act. Specifically, the company has been accused of “failing to safeguard people’s information”, and not being “transparent” about how people’s data was used by other firms. It’s waiting for Facebook’s response before confirming the fine, which is a fraction of the company’s earnings. Based on its reported net income of $5bn in the latest quarter, it would take the company just 18 minutes to pay it. The watchdog has been investigating Facebook since…

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Computeractive (Digital) - 1 Issue, 533

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