From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Israel opens investigation into Facebook for Cambridge Analytica data breach
Israel’s Justice Ministry has informed Facebook that it is opening an “administrative investigation” into the company following reports of the transfer of personal information from Facebook to data-mining firm Cambridge Analytics “and the possibility of additional violations of Israelis’ personal information,” the ministry says.
Cambridge Analytica been under fire since The New York Times and The Guardian newspaper reported that it used data inappropriately obtained from roughly 50 million Facebook users to try to influence elections, including the 2016 US presidential election. Among that information were users’ likes.
Additionally, a report by UK’s Channel 4 revealed hidden camera footage in which Cambridge Analytica’s chief executive Alexander Nix describes using Israeli “intelligence gathering” to get information about voters.
“According to privacy laws, personal information may only be used for the purpose it was given over for and may be transferred to another party only with consent,” a statement from the Justice Ministry’s Privacy Protection Authority statement says.
“The Authority will therefore investigate whether personal information of Israeli users has been illegally used in a manner that violates their right to privacy and violates the laws of privacy protection in Israel,” the statement adds.
Yesterday, breaking five days of silence, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the “major breach of trust,” admitted mistakes and outlined steps to protect user data.
A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry confirms to the Times of Israel that the probe is not currently being treated as a criminal investigation, but says it may become one “at a later date.”
— Raoul Wootliff
The Times of Israel Community.