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Facebook accused of lying to UK lawmakers over privacy scandals

Members of Parliament want to know why Zuckerberg said he only found out about the Cambridge Analytica issue last year, when staff have said he knew about it a year earlier.

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The fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that came to light in March 2018, continues to this day.

In the UK, members of parliament (MPs) are questioning the timeline of revelations of the possible misuse of data, and actions taken by Facebook.

Cambridge Analytica is a British data mining, analyzing and brokering firm that started as an offshoot of SCL Group, a government and military contractor.

Cambridge Analyticaโ€™s notoriety stems from getting its hands on data from 50 million Facebook users without their consent to then use it for targeted marketing โ€“ and from having Donald Trumpโ€™s 2016 campaign as one of its clients, as well as that of US Senator Ted Cruz.

Now that the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Facebook $100 million for its role in the scandal โ€“ some of the information revealed in the Commissionโ€™s case is what prompted British MPs to react.

Facebook earlier told Parliament that it found out about Cambridge Analyticaโ€™s data misuse in December 2015, but the SEC complaint suggests the company knew about it earlier, in September.

UK Parliamentโ€™s Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee Chair Damian Collins has penned a letter to Nick Clegg โ€“ a former British deputy PM, who is now Facebookโ€™s vice-president of global affairs.

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Collins wants answers about โ€œwho at Facebook knew what when about Cambridge Analyticaโ€™s activities,โ€ and notes that Facebookโ€™s representatives had told the British Parliament they only found out about the scandal in December 2015 โ€“ a timeline that now appears not to have been correct.

The letter also asks why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg only became aware of potential problems regarding Cambridge Analyticaโ€™s behavior last year, if his employees warned about it as early as 2015. And Collins would like to know if the information contained in the SEC case was accurate.

Announcing his letter and queries on Twitter, Collins also made sure to include a hashtag referencing a Netflix documentary called The Great Hack, which the BBC said โ€œraises questions about Cambridge Analyticaโ€™s role in President Trumpโ€™s electionโ€ and also about the way the company advised a pro-Brexit group.

Meanwhile, Collinsโ€™ invitation to Zuckerberg to appear before the UK Parliament, where the Facebook CEO is a no-show, seems to still stand.