Just when Facebook announced changes to its privacy policy, the Government of India has sent it a show-cause notice asking whether the personal data of Indian voters and users have been compromised by Cambridge Analytica or any other downstream entity in any manner, and if so, how was it compromised.

The government has asked the company to send its response by April 7.

Breaching data

After reports of Facebook breaching data and influencing electoral processes, the government on March 21 had warned the social networking giant saying it can even summon Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, if found guilty.

Later, there were reports and whistleblowers coming out in public saying Cambridge Analytica, through Facebook, has influenced Indian elections as well and even caste votes were created by them.

“The show-cause notice has been sent to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, and not to their Indian head,” a senior government official told BusinessLine.

In the notice, the government has asked whether the company or its related or downstream agencies utilising its data have previously been engaged by any entities to manipulate the Indian electoral processes. “If any such downstream entity misused data from Facebook, what is the protection available to the data subject?,” said one of the queries in the notice.

It has asked what are the specific steps proposed to be taken by Facebook to prevent any misuse of personal data for potential interference in, or manipulation of the Indian electoral process?

“Facebook today has its largest footprint in India in terms of its user base and, therefore, what proactive measures are being taken to ensure the safety, security and privacy of such large user data and to prevent its misuse by any third party,” it asked in the notice. The notice to Facebook comes even before the deadline of responses sought through a notice to Cambridge Analytica.

On March 23, a notice seeking details relating to breach of data from Facebook had been sent to Cambridge Analytica particularly with regard to reports about questionable practices attributed to Cambridge Analytica in their efforts to influence elections.

FB overhauls privacy settings

Meanwhile, Facebook on Wednesday said that it will overhaul its privacy settings tools to put users ‘more in control’ of their information on its site. The updates include improved access to Facebook’s user settings and tools to easily search for, download and delete personal data stored by Facebook.

However, this announcement is more driven by European Union’s data protection law General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is yet to come in May. GDPR is been designed to protect the digital security of citizens within the EU and how this policy limits the online companies collect data of their consumers.

The government is working on a data protection law, which is expected in a few months only. The stance of India would be clearer then, said experts.

comment COMMENT NOW