FBI, SEC, and FTC join DOJ in Facebook/Cambridge Analytica investigation
2 replies, posted
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/07/02/federal-investigators-broaden-focus-facebooks-role-sharing-data-with-cambridge-analytica-examining-statements-tech-giant/?utm_term=.43ddb381133d
A federal investigation into Facebook’s sharing of data with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica has broadened to focus on the actions and statements of the tech giant and
now involves three agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the official inquiries.
Representatives for the FBI, the SEC and the Federal Trade Commission have joined the Department of Justice in its inquiries about the two companies and the sharing of personal
information of 71 million Americans, suggesting the wide-ranging nature of the investigation, said five people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a probe that
remains incomplete.
Facebook discovered in 2015 that Cambridge Analytica, which wasn’t yet working for the Trump campaign and other Republican candidates, had obtained Facebook data to create
voter profiles. Yet Facebook didn’t disclose that information to the public until March, on the eve of the publication of news reports about the matter.
The questioning from federal investigators centers on what Facebook knew three years ago and why the company didn’t reveal it at the time to its users or investors, as well as any
discrepancies in more recent accounts, among other issues, according to these people. The Capitol Hill testimony of Facebook officials, including Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg,
also is being scrutinized as part of the probe, said people familiar with the federal inquiries.
Facebook confirmed that it had received questions from the federal agencies and said it was sharing information and cooperating in other ways. “We are cooperating with officials in
the US, UK and beyond," said Facebook spokesman Matt Steinfeld. "We’ve provided public testimony, answered questions, and pledged to continue our assistance as their work
continues.”
The Department of Justice and the other federal agencies declined to comment. The FTC in March disclosed that it was investigating Facebook over possible privacy violations.
The SEC has described the investigation as “The Facebook Matter,” according to two people who have seen related documents. Cambridge Analytica has closed operations since the
scandal erupted and an inquiry to its press office was returned as undeliverable.
The New York Times previously reported that the Department of Justice was investigating Cambridge Analytica. But the extent of federal investigation into the actions and statements
of Facebook itself has not previously been revealed.
“The fact that the Justice Department, the FBI, the SEC and the FTC are sitting down together does raise serious concerns,” said David Vladeck, former director of the FTC’s Bureau of
Consumer Protection and now a Georgetown Law professor. He said he had no direct knowledge of the investigation but said the combination of agencies involved “does raise all sorts
of red flags.”
The expanding federal probe creates new risk to Facebook as it struggles to emerge from nearly two years of scandal, beginning with the role its platform played in disseminating
Russian disinformation efforts during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Insert an edit of the five black men standing over the petite white lady.
where was all this investigative power when the US OPM, Equifax, Exactis or Verizon leaked hundreds of millions of americans personal information, in a scale FAR larger than Cambridge Analytica?
5000 hours in GIMP
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/1874/31f4d54e-26da-4ca0-a877-4fe4847fec63/cant succ the zucc.jpg
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