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Facebook is being investigated by lawmakers in Britain after
consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which worked on Donald Trump's
presidential campaign, obtained the personal data of 87 million
Facebook users from a researcher, drawing attention to the use
of data analytics in politics.
Concerns over the social media giant's practices, the role of
political adverts and possible interference in the 2016 Brexit
vote and U.S. elections are among the topics being investigated
by British and European regulators.
While Facebook says it complies with EU data protection laws, a
special hearing of lawmakers from several countries around the
world in London criticized Zuckerberg for declining to appear
himself to answer questions on the topic.
"We've never seen anything quite like Facebook, where, while we
were playing on our phones and apps, our democratic institutions
... seem to have been upended by frat-boy billionaires from
California," Canadian lawmaker Charlie Angus said.
"So Mr Zuckerberg's decision not to appear here at Westminster
(Britain's parliament) to me speaks volumes."
Richard Allan, the vice president of policy solutions at
Facebook who appeared in Zuckerberg's stead, admitted Facebook
had made mistakes but said it had accepted the need to comply
with data rules.
"I'm not going to disagree with you that we've damaged public
trust through some of the actions we've taken," Allan told the
hearing.
Facebook has faced a barrage of criticism from users and
lawmakers after it said last year that Russian agents used its
platform to spread disinformation before and after the 2016 U.S.
presidential election, an accusation Moscow denies.
Allan repeatedly declined to give an example of a person or app
banned from Facebook for misuse of data, aside from the GSR app
which gathered data in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Legal documents reviewed by Reuters show how the investigation
by British lawmakers has led them to seize documents relating to
Facebook from app developer Six4Three, which is in a legal
dispute with Facebook.
Damian Collins, chair of the culture committee which convened
the hearing, said he would not release those documents on
Tuesday as he was not in a position to do so, although he has
said previously the committee has the legal power to.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Mark Potter)
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