The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) reported Facebook to The Norwegian Data Protection Authority (DPA) for breaking European privacy law.
According to NRK’s report, this is coordinated with nine sister organisations in six European countries.
Facebook believes the data of up to 87 million people was improperly shared with the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. This number is significantly higher than the previous estimate of 50 million US citizens.
Norwegian News Agency (NTB) has confirmed that 17 Norwegians downloaded the thisisyourdigitallife app, giving Cambridge Analytica access to personal information. As a consequence, up to 37,550 Norwegians might have been affected with the data infringement of Facebook.
After this information is revealed today, the NCC filed a complaint against Facebook to the DPA. Nine sister consumer organisations in The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece have done the same.
In their letter to the DPA, the NCC writes:
– Based on news reports, it is clear from our perspective that there has been a breach of European data protection rules.
– It appears as if Facebook has not adequately protected its users’ data, and not taken all the necessary measures to amend the situation once it came to its knowledge in 2015.
During a press conference Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said that he had previously assumed that if Facebook gave people tools, it was largely their responsibility to decide how to use them.
– It was wrong in retrospect to have had such a limited view, added he.
