The US Federal Trade Commission has cracked the whip on the now defunct political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica for deceiving consumers about the collection of data from Facebook INC and using it for voter profiling and targeting.
The regulator also found the firm guilty of malpractices related to its participation in the EU-US privacy shield framework- a pack that governs laws pertaining to cross border movement of personal data.
The order issued by the regulator strictly bars the firm from misusing the data gathered from the users and misusing it and also prohibits them from effectively participating in the privacy shield framework agreement that exists between the two blocks separated by only the Atlantic Ocean.
Also Read: US lawmaker Pramila Jayapal moves Congressional resolution on J&k; oblivious of ground realities
It was in July that Facebook agreed to pay US $5 billion as fines to the regulator in order to resolve a probe into its privacy regulations. However, the regulator continues to pursue a separate case involving breach of certain anti-trust regulations.
The current probe is related to allegations that Facebook violated a 2012 consent decree by inappropriately sharing information belonging to 87 million Facebook users with Cambridge Analytica.
The impact of this order isn’t clear yet as Cambridge Analytica is now a defunct firm.
The defunct firm boasted of clients such as US President Donald Trump and Indian National Congress (INC) leader Rahul Gandhi.
The latter was accused of indulging in malpractices by employing the services of the firm in the run up to the General Elections of 2019. This accusation has not been proven.