DamianCollins
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UK parliament report will call for 'sweeping' regulation of Facebook
The UK Parliament's Facebook document dump is close to creating serious legal trouble for the social network. According to The Guardian, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee plans to release a report on February 18th calling on the UK government to enact "sweeping" legislation regulating Facebook's activities. The findings will assert that Facebook can't be trusted to police its own data handling, and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been "duplicitous."
Facebook gave Lyft and others special access to user data
Since the Cambridge Analytica revelations came to light earlier this year, there's been quite a bit of scrutiny on what companies Facebook has given user data to. And now, documents released by the UK's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which is investigating Facebook, show how the company gave certain companies special access to user data. Among those receiving favored access were Airbnb, Lyft, Netflix and Bumble, while the documents show that Facebook also pointedly denied data access to some competitors, like Vine.
Mark Zuckerberg refuses to testify in the UK yet again
Mark Zuckerberg has yet again rebuked a UK parliamentary request for him to testify. An international committee had called for the Facebook CEO to appear before it later this month.
Facebook to UK parliament: No Zuckerberg for you
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the UK asked Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a parliamentary committee in order to address questions and concerns about user data privacy. The CEO declined in March and the company sent CTO Mike Schroepfer to testify instead. But the UK's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee wasn't satisfied with Schroepfer's answers and sent follow up questions to Facebook as well as a renewed request for Zuckerberg to appear himself. "We hope that he will respond positively to our request, but if not, the committee will resolve to issue a formal summons for him to appear when he is next in the UK," wrote Committee Chair Damian Collins. However, despite the threat of a summons, Zuckerberg has again declined the request.
UK warns Zuckerberg will face summons if he doesn't testify
The UK has reiterated its request for Mark Zuckerberg to testify before its Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Committee and this time it says if the CEO declines, he'll be compelled to appear the next time he steps foot in the country. In March, following reports that Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained information on millions of Facebook users, the committee asked Zuckerberg to testify on the company's "catastrophic failure of process," but the CEO declined. Instead, Facebook sent a letter summarizing its recent data privacy changes and offered up some other high-level employees in place of Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg declines invite to UK committee hearing on data privacy
Despite being asked, Mark Zuckerberg won't attend a British parliamentary hearing about Cambridge Analytica's data use. In a statement to Damian Collins, chair of Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee, Facebook's head of public policy for the UK Rebecca Stimson outlined all the ways Facebook would change its course of action (like telling people if their data was misused). Essentially, it was a rehash of Zuckerberg's statement from last week. What Stimson didn't do though, was promise Zuckerberg would arrive as requested, instead listing possible deputies that may be sent to the hearings in his place.
The true extent of Russian meddling in Brexit remains murky
In late October, Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Damian Collins called upon Facebook and Twitter to report back with any evidence of Russian meddling in the UK's vote to leave the EU. It's an evolution of the committee's inquiry into the problem of fake news, which Collins considers a pretty serious "threat to democracy." Responses from Facebook and Twitter have landed this week, and if you haven't been following along, it's safe to say Collins isn't particularly impressed with how deep the social networks are digging to identify the true scale of political misinformation and influence exerted by Russia.
