An audit of Facebook’s privacy protections conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave the company the all-clear despite the fact that Facebook was already aware of the Cambridge Analytica problem at the time …
The WSJ reports that the audit was a condition of a settlement between the FTC and Facebook over privacy concerns.
The audit ended in February 2017, while Facebook’s own testimony showed that it became aware of the misuse of user data by Cambridge Analytica back in 2015.
Facebook has also hit problems in Germany, reports Reuters. Hamburg’s privacy regulator, the data protection ombudsman, has accused Facebook of failing to comply with privacy laws.
“We remain strongly committed to protecting people’s information. We appreciate the opportunity to answer questions the FTC may have,” Rob Sherman, Facebook’s deputy chief privacy officer, said in a written statement.
PwC didn’t immediately return a request for comment. The FTC declined to comment.
Facebook is also rushing through a new feature designed to exert greater control over election ads ahead of regional elections in Germany.
The impact of Russian interference in the US presidential election is still being assessed.
“We will be able to roll out the first phase of our transparency efforts — the view ads tool — this summer in time for the Bavarian state elections,” Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy, told German lawmakers at a closed-door hearing in Berlin, according to his prepared remarks.
Photo: Dado Ruvic/Reuters
