3 Facebook Messenger app users sue Facebook over privacy violations
SAN FRANCISCO: Three users of the Facebook Messenger app sued Facebook on Tuesday, saying the social network violated their privacy by collecting logs of their phone calls and text messages, in the latest legal challenge facing the company.
Shares tumble
Meanwhile, Facebook shares tumbled $7.84, or 4.9%, to $152.22 on Tuesday. That marks a 21% decline in value since its high Feb. 1.
Some Wall Street analysts say the crisis represents a turning point for Facebook that could influence its long-term trajectory.
"We would characterize this as a 'defining period' for Facebook, Zuckerberg, and [Wall Street's] ability to navigate through this hurricane-like storm with the company's business model still well intact," Daniel Ives, an analyst for GBH Insights, said in a note to clients Tuesday.
The US lawsuit filed in federal court in the Northern District of California seeks status as a class action on behalf of all affected users and asks for unspecified damages.
A Facebook representative could not immediately be reached for comment.
Facebook, which is reeling from a scandal over its handling of personal data, on Sunday acknowledged that it had been logging some users’ call and text history but said it had done so only when users of the Android operating system had opted in.
Facebook said on Sunday that it does not collect the content of calls or text messages, and that information is securely stored. The data is not sold to third parties, it said.
Facebook sued by housing advocates alleging discrimination
NEW YORK: Fair housing advocates sued Facebook Tuesday, saying it lets landlords and real estate brokers target advertising to discriminate against families with children, women and those with disabilities.
The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court alleges investigations by fair housing supporters in New York, Washington, D.C., Miami and San Antonio, Texas, prove Facebook continues to let advertisers discriminate even though civil rights and housing groups have notified the company since 2016 that it is violating the federal Fair Housing Act.
It seeks unspecified damages and a court order to end discrimination.
Facebook hasn't responded to a message seeking comment.
The lawsuit was filed by the National Fair Housing Alliance and other organizations.
It comes as Facebook faces criticism over allegations British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica used details of 50 million Facebook users to help Republican candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential campaign.
The housing groups say the Menlo Park, California-based Facebook abused its power as it became what amounts to the biggest advertising agency in the world.
The lawsuit's explanation of how the discrimination is carried out begins with a description that would sound appealing to most advertisers. It said Facebook, with a customer base of over two billion people, collects a "treasure trove of information" to enable advertisers to target customers they believe are right for their businesses.
Then it lets advertisers scroll through hundreds of demographics, behaviors and interests to decide which characteristics they want to include or exclude, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said that the National Fair Housing Alliance did its own study after the investigative news nonprofit ProPublica published an article in October 2016 that said Facebook's online platform enabled advertisers to exclude from advertisements in the housing category those customers assigned black, Hispanic and other "ethnic affinities."
It said the housing alliance was able to post a Facebook ad for a fictitious rental apartment after it selected options that excluded blacks and Hispanics from the ad's potential audience. After complaints, Facebook took steps to counter those kinds of discriminatory ads, the lawsuit said.
Expert says Brexit campaign used data mined from Facebook
LONDON: The computer expert who alleges a trove of Facebook data was improperly used to help Donald Trump's White House bid said Tuesday that he strongly believes the information was also used by the Brexit movement that persuaded Britain to quit the European Union.
In a 3-hour hearing, Chris Wylie told the House of Commons media committee that he believes the breach exceeded the 50 million Facebook users reported earlier - though he didn't give an exact figure. And he said the data compiled by the political consulting business Cambridge Analytica was available to other firms with links to it.
"All kinds of people had access to the data," said Wylie, who helped develop Cambridge Analytica's methods for using the information to target and persuade voters. "It was everywhere."
Among the companies that had access to the data was AggregateIQ, a Canadian political consultant that did work for Vote Leave, the official campaign backing Britain's withdrawal from the EU, Wylie said.
Wylie described Cambridge Analytica as just one arm of a global company, SCL Group, that gets most of its income from military contracts but is also a political gun-for-hire, often in countries where democratic institutions are weak.
He suggested the company combines computer algorithms and dirty tricks to help candidates win regardless of the cost.
The 28-year-old Canadian with a swath of pink hair says he helped set up Cambridge Analytica in 2013. He left the next year.
Wylie has previously alleged that Cambridge Analytica used personal data improperly collected from Facebook users to help Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Cambridge Analytica says none of the Facebook data was used in its work on the Trump campaign. It denies any wrongdoing.
Cambridge Analytica's acting CEO, Alexander Tayler, said in a statement that Wylie was a part-time contractor who "has no direct knowledge of our work or practices" since he left the company.
Wylie said he "absolutely" believes AggregateIQ drew on Cambridge Analytica's databases for its work on the Brexit campaign. In the closely fought referendum in 2016, 51.9 percent of voters backed Britain's departure from the EU.
"I think it is incredibly reasonable to say that AIQ played a very significant role in Leave winning," Wylie said.
He testified that AggregateIQ was formed when Cambridge Analytica sought to expand but Canadians he wanted to bring into the business didn't want to relocate to Britain.
The two firms shared underlying technology and worked so closely together that Cambridge Analytica staff often referred to the Canadian firm as a "department," he said.
Because of the links between the two companies, Vote Leave got the "the next best thing" to Cambridge Analytica when it hired AggregateIQ, "a company that can do virtually everything that (Cambridge Analytica) can do but with a different billing name," Wylie said.
AggregateIQ, based in Victoria, British Columbia, issued a statement saying it has never been part of Cambridge Analytica or SCL.
"AggregateIQ works in full compliance within all legal and regulatory requirements in all jurisdictions where it operates," the company said. "All work AggregateIQ does for each client is kept separate from every other client."
Wylie's testimony came a day after Wylie and two other former insiders presented 50 pages of documents that they said proved Vote Leave violated election finance rules during the referendum campaign.
They allege that Vote Leave circumvented spending limits by donating 625,000 pounds ($888,000) to the pro-Brexit student group BeLeave, which then sent the money directly to AggregateIQ.
Vote Leave denies breaking any campaign finance regulations. Dominic Cummings, the Vote Leave strategist, called Wylie a "fantasist-charlatan."
Facebook accused of breaking New Zealand privacy law
WELLINGTON, New Zealand: New Zealand's privacy commissioner says Facebook broke the law by not releasing information to a man who wanted to know what others were saying about him on the social network.
Commissioner John Edwards said Wednesday that Facebook refused the man access to personal information on the accounts of several Facebook users.
Facebook says it's disappointed in the finding. It says the commissioner made a broad and intrusive request for private data, and that it was protecting the privacy of its users.
The commissioner's finding allows the man to seek financial damages against Facebook.
The case also raises jurisdictional questions. Edwards says Facebook should comply by New Zealand laws but it is arguing it's not bound by them because its operation is based in Ireland.
Facebook signals Zuckerberg will testify
March 27--Facebook is in talks with lawmakers about having its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, testify before Congress about the social network's handling of user data.
The company is in contact with all three congressional committees that have requested testimony from Zuckerberg: the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a Facebook spokesperson said.
The company declined to confirm a CNN report Tuesday that Zuckerberg had made up his mind and agreed to testify about how personal information from 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked on the Trump campaign.
Zuckerberg will not appear before a British parliamentary committee on misinformation and social media, choosing instead to send one of his deputies, the company said Tuesday.
An appearance by the 33-year-old billionaire before Congress would signal the company is bowing to pressure at home amid arguably the most serious crisis in its 14-year history.
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed Monday it was investigating the social media giant to determine whether it had violated a consent order to disclose uses of customers' data. On the same day, 37 attorneys general, including California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, sent a letter to Facebook asking about the company's data policies and its role in the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
Facebook is also facing a backlash from consumers, highlighted by the #deletefacebook hashtag. The company is now scrambling to win back trust from its more than 2 billion users worldwide.
The scrutiny could amount to a national reckoning about the future of social media and its advertising-based business model that requires collecting evermore intrusive personal data to thrive.
"Congress is worried about the Pandora's box of social media, and they want to be seen doing something," said Betsy Sigman, a professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. "Their constituents are nervous about their privacy and the impact social media could have on their privacy and their kids' privacy."
By facing Congress, Zuckerberg can show Facebook is serious about privacy -- a gesture that could tamp down outrage, Sigman said.
"Facebook made almost $40 billion in advertising revenue in 2017," Sigman said.
"This revenue is made partly because they can target people they have collected data on. They want to keep doing this, obviously, but they also want to be seen as a concerned company."
If Zuckerberg ultimately decides to testify, it will probably raise pressure on his counterparts -- Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey -- to also agree to requests to appear before Congress.
Twitter declined to comment. Google did not respond to a request for comment.
The three tech giants sent mostly attorneys to speak to Congress about Russian interference last year. If those hearings are a preview of what's in store, then the executives can expect a tough grilling should they choose to appear.
Scorn is often the price of entry for executives conducting damage control on Capitol Hill. Television industry executives were humiliated in 2000 for calling the results of the presidential election too early, and United Airlines Chief Executive Oscar Munoz was eviscerated last year for his company's woeful customer relations record.
Zuckerberg drew a strong rebuke Tuesday from Damian Collins, chair of the British parliamentary inquiry into fake news, for refusing to come testify.
"It is absolutely astonishing that Mark Zuckerberg is not prepared to submit himself to questioning in front of a parliamentary ... hearing, given these are questions of fundamental importance and concern to his users, as well as to this inquiry," said Collins, according to the Guardian.
Facebook said it would send either Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer or Chief Product Officer Chris Cox to explain to parliament how Cambridge Analytica obtained unauthorized information.
The data was derived from a quiz app developed by a University of Cambridge professor in 2013 that collected information from users who downloaded the game, as well as their friends. The professor violated Facebook rules by then selling that data to Cambridge Analytica, which used it to try to sway voters.
Facebook did not inform the 50 million users their data had been compromised nor did it verify if Cambridge Analytica destroyed that data as promised. Facebook amended its rules in 2015 to reduce the amount of information it shared with app developers.
