In a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, privacy and public interest groups, including CFA, are urging an immediate investigation into whether Facebook’s alleged disclosure of the personal data of 50 million Americans to the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica violated the FTC Consent Order with Facebook. As the Facebook Order makes clear, Facebook must “get consumers’ approval before it changes the way it shares their data,” and must “obtain consumers’ affirmative express consent before enacting changes that override their privacy preferences.” Yet Facebook’s business practices resulted in the disclosure of consumers’ “names, education, work histories, birthdays, likes, locations, photos, relationship statuses, and religious and political affiliations” to Cambridge Analytica without their knowledge or consent. The Commission must immediately undertake an investigation and issue a public report as to whether Facebook complied with the 2011 Order.
