Facebook is facing severe legal action for failing to protect users’ private data in the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The breach saw more than 87 million people having their information sold and used for advertising purposes during global elections. At the time, Facebook was fined £500,000 by the UK’s data protection watchdog, but new plaintiffs are saying that the punishment in no way fits the crime.
A mass lawsuit is being filed on behalf of the more than one million affected people in the UK. However, Facebook has stated that it has not received any information about the case.
A spokesperson told BBC News: “We have not received any documents regarding this claim. The Information Commissioner’s Office investigation into these issues, which included seizing and interrogating Cambridge Analytica’s servers, found no evidence that any UK or EU users’ data was transferred by Dr Kogan to Cambridge Analytica.”
The group that is responsible for the lawsuit, ‘Facebook You Owe Us’, is associated with ‘Google You Owe Us’, an organisation that is demanding compensation for another data breach caused by Google.
Alvin Carpio, the representative claimant, notes that the original fines account for less than 0.01% of Facebook’s annual revenue, or “pocket change”.
Facebook saw its valuation drop by more than 15% in March 2018, after the scandal first came to light.
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