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In this April 12, 2016, Facebook photo file, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about the company's 10-year roadmap during the keynote address at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference in San Francisco. Instagram along with Messenger and WhatsApp are serving the social media giant's insurance policy for a future that might be dominated by its flagship service. (AP Photo / Eric Risberg, File)
British regulators on Thursday slapped Facebook with a fine of 500,000 pounds ($ 644,000) -the maximum possible-for failing to protect the privacy of its users in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
At the same time, European Union lawmakers asked for an audit of the United States to better understand how it handles information, which is why it is important to be aware of this issue.
Britain's Information Commissioner's Office found that between 2007 and 2014, the Facebook site provides information to users. The failings meant the data of some 87 million people was used without their knowledge.
"Elizabeth Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said," This is not an easy way to protect the privacy of its users. "A company of its size and expertise should have been better and it should have done better."
The ICO said that SCL Group, the parent company of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. U.S. President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign has been overseen by global scandal on data rights.
The fine is the maximum allowed under the law. Had the scandal taken place after new year, the maximum amount of 17 million pounds or 4 percent of global turnover, whichever is higher.
The data rules are relevant to the United States, and a debate is ongoing on the U.S. should respond. California is moving to the EU's strict rules by 2020 and other states are mulling more aggressive laws. That's the big tech companies, which are pushing for a federal law that would treat them more leniently.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video message to a big data privacy conference in Brussels this week that "we have a lot more work to do" to personal data.
About the U.K. fine, Facebook replied in a statement that they are reviewing the decision.
"While we respectfully disagree with some of their findings, we have said that we should have done more to investigate the implications of Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015." We are grateful that the ICO has given their full cooperation in their investigation. "
Facebook also took into account that the ICO did not definitively assert that U.K. users had their data shared for campaigning. But the commissioner noted in his statement that "even if Facebook's assertion is correct," U.S. residents would have used the site while visiting the U.K.
EU lawmakers had summoned Zuckerberg in May to testify about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
In their vote on Thursday, they said: "to assess data protection and security of users' personal data."
The EU lawmakers also call for new electoral safeguards online, a ban on profiling for electoral purposes and makes it easier to recognize paid political advertisements and their financial backers.
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UK regulator investigating Facebook over political campaigning
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