Facebook sued by US lawyer over Cambridge Analytica data breach accusations

The world's largest social media company has been in thick soup since revealing earlier this year that a third-party personality quiz distributed on Facebook gathered profile information on 87 million users worldwide and sold the data to British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica Case: US social media giant Facebook Inc. has been sued by a top US prosecutor for allegedly misleading users about how it safeguarded their personal data, in the latest fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Cambridge Analytica Case: US social media giant Facebook Inc. has been sued by a top US prosecutor for allegedly misleading users about how it safeguarded their personal data, in the latest fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The world's largest social media company has been in thick soup since revealing earlier this year that a third-party personality quiz distributed on Facebook gathered profile information on 87 million users worldwide and sold the data to British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

A Facebook spokesperson told the BBC: "We're reviewing the complaint and look forward to continuing our discussions with attorneys general in DC and elsewhere."

Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine said Facebook misled users because it had known about the incident for two years before disclosing it. The company had told users it vetted third-party apps, yet made few checks, Racine said.

As well as this lawsuit, Facebook is being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.

In the UK, the company was fined 500,000 pounds over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the maximum fine the British data regulator can impose.

Bigger trouble may arise from the Irish data protection regulator, which is investigating Facebook for multiple admissions of security flaws, in what is being seen as the first major test of Europe's new privacy rules as dictated by the General Data Protection Regulation.

According to the Post, the Washington DC attorney general's action could be amended to include more recent data security admissions, including more revelations published on Wednesday by the New York Times.