The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued an official ruling, according to which it acknowledges that Facebook users were indeed deceived by Cambridge Analytica, which managed to gain access to the data of tens of millions of them.
According to the FTC 's unanimous decision , it is confirmed that app developer Aleksandr Kogan and then-CEO of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix collaborated to collect data from Facebook users through a personality assessment app known as GSRApp, which Kogan himself had created.
The regulatory authority concluded that the app deceived users, as it assured them that it does not collect data such as names and other personal information, but sold this data to political campaign creators and other clients in America, for targeted advertising.
Furthermore, the FTC's decision confirmed that Cambridge Analytica violated an agreement between the European Union and the United States, known as the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, under which companies are required to protect user data transferred between the two regions. Additionally, companies bear responsibility to protect any personal data collected in this process, which Cambridge Analytica obviously did not do.
Cambridge Analytica is currently in bankruptcy, which began shortly after the first scandal.
The decision will prohibit Cambridge Analytica from making false statements about the extent to which it protects the privacy of users' personal information and will require it to continue implementing privacy protection for the personal information it collects, or otherwise to return it or delete it. It must also delete any personal data it collected through the GSRApp.
The FTC's decision comes 18 months after the revelation of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
In July, Facebook and the FTC agreed to a $5 billion fine to settle the Cambridge Analytica data breach. The social media platform also agreed to drastically change its privacy policies, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was not left unscathed, as he is no longer allowed to be Facebook's sole decision-maker.
The FTC's investigation supports that Facebook repeatedly used misleading statements and settings, which undermined the security of users' data, thereby violating the agreement it made with the FTC in 2012. The FTC also claimed that Facebook was inadequate in addressing applications that it knew violated the platform's policies.
