Facebook is facing a £500,000 fine in the UK for its role in the Cambridge Analytica data breach. On Wednesday, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced that the fine is the maximum amount it can impose under UK law for two breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998. The UK data watchdog is also planning to take criminal action against SCL Elections Ltd, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, for failing to properly respond to the ICO's investigation. Cambridge Analytica's collection of data from Facebook users affected 87 million users in the US, UK and other countries. So it was only natural that they would be the focus of an ICO investigation. The information was "unfairly shared" with the company without the user's consent. According to an investigation published by Elizabeth Denham for the ICO, the agency concluded that “Facebook broke the law by failing to safeguard its members’ information […], and the company failed to be transparent about how it collected data from others.” Facebook will have the opportunity to respond to the ICO’s findings after the final decision on the £500,000 fine is announced. The largest social network told the BBC that the company would respond “soon.” “Trust in the integrity of our democratic processes risks being undermined because the average voter has no idea what’s going on behind the scenes,” Denham said. “New technologies use analytics from individuals, giving campaign groups the ability to connect with (influence) individual voters. But this should not come at the expense of transparency, fairness and compliance with the law.” The Commissioner added that fines and prosecutions are part of the process, but the ICO’s true intention is to “ bring about change and restore trust in our democratic system .” ________________________________________________
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