Washington, DC sues Facebook over Cambridge Analytica's data use

Attorney General says Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them

WASHINGTON: The attorney general for Washington, DC said on Wednesday the nation’s capital city had sued Facebook over the scandal that broke earlier this year involving Cambridge Analytica’s use of data from the social-media giant.

“Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used,” said Attorney General Karl Racine in a statement.

“Facebook put users at risk of manipulation by allowing companies like Cambridge Analytica and other third-party applications to collect personal data without users’ permission.”



The lawsuit comes as Facebook faces new reports that it shared its users’ data without their permission.

Cambridge Analytica, which worked for President Donald Trump’s political campaign at one point, gained access to personal data from tens of millions of Facebook’s users.

The DC attorney general says in the suit that this exposed nearly half of the district’s residents’ data to manipulation for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election, and alleges Facebook’s “lax oversight and misleading privacy settings” had allowed the consulting firm to harvest the information.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.