Cambridge Analytica: Australia Launches Investigation Into Facebook After Latest Revelation

Australia announced on Thursday that it has launched an investigation into Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data hacking controversy.
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The disclosure comes in on the heels of Facebook’s latest revelation that personal information of as many as 87 million users may have been improperly shared to the UK-based political data-analytics firm.

The revelation ultimately confirms the testimony of ex-Cambridge Analytica employee, Chris Wylie, who told UK lawmakers last month that Cambridge Analytica illegally gained access to data for 50 million Facebook users.

According to Facebook’s blogpost, the United States was the most affected country, followed by Philippines, Indonesia and the United Kingdom.

“The investigation will consider whether Facebook has breached the Privacy Act 1988(Privacy Act). Given the global nature of this matter, the OAIC will confer with regulatory authorities internationally,” Australian watchdog (OAIC) said.

“All organisations that are covered by the Privacy Act have obligations in relation to the personal information that they hold. This includes taking reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is held securely, and ensuring that customers are adequately notified about the collection and handling of their personal information.”

Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive officer, admitted on Wednesday that his social network scans the content of private messages.

He said this on a podcast with Ezra Klein on the Ezra Klein show.

“We detected that people were trying to spread sensational messages,” Zuckerberg said.

“In that case, our systems detect what’s going on. We stop those messages from going through.

“That’s the kind of thing where I think it is clear that people were trying to use our tools in order to incite real harm.”