Facebook: MEPs to discuss misuse of EU citizens’ personal data
Following the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, MEPs will discuss data protection and citizens’ privacy in plenary on Wednesday.
MEPs will highlight the importance of data protection as a line of defence against election manipulation. They are also expected to call again for Facebook’s management to come before the European Parliament.
Cambridge Analytica is accused of having obtained the Facebook data of millions of users without their permission to target them during the 2016 US presidential election. In total, the Facebook information of up to 87 million users, out of which 2.7 million are in the EU, may have been improperly obtained.
Parliament President Antonio Tajani invited Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the Parliament after the revelations surfaced. The Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee has also invited the company to clarify the situation and its impact on EU citizens’ data protection.