The government on Thursday has sent another letter to social networking giant Facebook, seeking explanation of the issue of data sharing without explicit consent through its platform.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), taking suo-motu note of reports, has also asked for a detailed factual report on the issue by June 20.

The Ministry had sent notices to Facebook and Cambridge Analytica earlier seeking explanation regarding their role in using data to manipulate the Indian electoral process.

In the episode relating to breach of personal data, Facebook had assured the government that the company would take sincere efforts to protect privacy of users’ data on the platform.

However, the latest reports raise uncomfortable questions about the assurances made by Facebook. The latest reports regarding Facebook is a cause for deep concern, a government statement said.

“The government of India is deeply concerned about reports of such lapses/ violations,” the statement said.

It said the recent reports claiming that Facebook has agreements with mobile phones and other device manufacturers that allow them to access its users’ personal information, including that of their friends without taking their explicit consent.

Data sharing partnerships

Recently, Facebook admitted that it had data sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese companies including Huawei, Lenovo Group, Oppo and close to 60 companies worldwide.

The company explained on Tuesday that more than half the partnerships has been terminated and the agreement would Huawei would end later this week.

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