Brazil Fines Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal

Bloomberg is reporting that Brazil has levied a $1.6 million fine on Facebook for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The fine is the result of an investigation that began in April 2018, find...
Brazil Fines Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal
Written by Matt Milano

Bloomberg is reporting that Brazil has levied a $1.6 million fine on Facebook for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The fine is the result of an investigation that began in April 2018, finding that Facebook illegally shared data for some 443,000 users.

“It’s evident that the data of about 443,000 users of the platform were made available by the developers of the app ‘thisisyourdigitallife’ for reasons that are at least questionable,” Brazil’s justice ministry said in a statement.

Facebook has said there is no evidence the data from Brazilian users was transferred to Cambridge Analytica, but the justice ministry said Facebook and its local unit failed to prove that less users were impacted.

As Bloomberg points out, Facebook agreed in July to pay a $5 billion fine to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. It is not clear if Facebook will immediately pay the Brazilian fine or fight it, however. The company simply said “we are currently evaluating our legal options in this case.”

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