Facebook given maximum fine by UK watchdog over Cambridge Analytica fiasco
Facebook is to receive the heaviest fine possible from the UK's data watchdog after it breached the Data Protection Act twice.
The maximum fine the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) is able to impose is £500,000 — a figure that's pretty minimal compared to Facebook's net worth of £445bn.
"The ICO’s investigation concluded that Facebook contravened the law by failing to safeguard people’s information," reads a statement. "It also found that the company failed to be transparent about how people’s data was harvested by others."
Earlier this year, evidence revealed that an app had been used to "harvest the data of 50 million Facebook users across the world." That figure has since been updated to a colossal 87 million.
Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said the world is currently "at a crossroads" as trust and confidence in "democratic processes" are at risk of being disrupted because most voters don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
"Fines and prosecutions punish the bad actors, but my real goal is to effect change and restore trust and confidence in our democratic system," said Denham.
Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer, Erin Egan, said they're "reviewing" the ICO's report and will respond in due course.
"As we have said before, we should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and take action in 2015," said Egan in a statement emailed to Mashable.
"We have been working closely with the ICO in their investigation of Cambridge Analytica, just as we have with authorities in the US and other countries," Egan continued.
Topics Facebook
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
