The Privacy Commissioner of Canada asked a federal court on Thursday, February 6, to declare that Facebook has violated Canadian privacy laws. Canada, like other countries, is launching legal proceedings against the American giant following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Commissioner Daniel Therrien asks federal judge to issue order "Demanding that Facebook put in place effective, precise and easily accessible measures to obtain the valid consent of all users and to ensure that it is kept", according to its press release.
The Commissioner also claims that the social network is banned "To continue to collect, use and disclose users' personal information" in violation of Canadian laws. The request, which marks the start of formal legal action against Facebook in Canada, follows an investigation last year by this federal police station and its counterpart in British Columbia.
The aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica case
This investigation, analyzes Commissioner Daniel Therrien, had "Revealed serious flaws in the social media giant's handling of personal information" in Canada. The investigation was sparked by a complaint accusing the social network of allowing a private company to use an application to obtain personal information from users, before sharing it with other organizations like Cambridge Analytica.
This British firm found itself at the heart of a scandal for having used the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge, to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, in favor of Donald Trump . Facebook challenged the findings of the Canadian investigation and refused to act on its recommendations to correct the shortcomings, the commissioner said.
"The Commissioner chooses to take legal action despite our many proposals for action that would go beyond what other companies are doing, despite the fact that there is no evidence that Canadian user data has been shared with Cambridge Analytica ยป, a Facebook spokesperson reacted Thursday evening.
Other countries have already launched lawsuits against Facebook, including the United States, where the network was fined $ 5 billion in late July for failing to protect the privacy of its users.
