Facebook faces fresh privacy lawsuit

Bloomberg

Facebook Inc faces growing pressure over its privacy protections as the District of Columbia sued over its handling of user data, exemplified by the privacy breach in which personal information of millions of Americans was transferred to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm hired by President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The suit alleges Facebook violated the district’s Consumer Protection and Procedures Act as a result of lax oversight of the company’s third-party applications. It came just hours after an explosive New York Times report that the social media giant had allowed, even after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, more than 150 companies to access more users’ personal data than it had disclosed, prompting renewed calls for Congress to act.
“It is beyond obvious at this point that social media platforms are simply not up to the task of voluntarily ensuring the privacy and security of their users,” Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, twe-eted. “Congress must step in.”
Facebook has been battered all year by questions about its privacy protections. Revelations about its response to manipulation of the social network before and after the 2016 US presidential election, and shifting accounts about breaches of users’ privacy, have battered the company’s reputation and fueled frustration in Washington. Lawmakers have been threatening for some time to impose new regulations to rein in Facebook, and the New York Times only seemed to further the case.
“We’re reviewing the complaint and look forward to continuing our discussions with attorneys general in DC and elsewhere,” Facebook said. Separately, in response to the New York Times report, the Menlo Park, California-based company said “none of these partnerships or features gave companies access to information without people’s permission.”

‘USERS AT RISK’
Washington Attorney General Karl Racine, who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement that “Facebook put users at risk of manipulation by all-owing companies like Cambridge Analytica and other third-party applications to collect personal data without users’ permission.”
Racine’s suit seeks a court order barring Facebook from violating the law, as well as payment of unspecified restitution and damages. While other states have investigations underway into Facebook’s role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, none have released findings yet, and Racine said on a press call after filing the suit that there are no plans for a multi-state investigation into the company’s
privacy practices.