The Great Hack: Facebook Agrees To Pay $644k Fine Over Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal, Denies Liability

Facebook has agreed to pay up to a £500,000 ($644,000) fine, which was issued by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), following last year’s Cambridge Analytica data breaching scandal. Although Facebook agreed to pay the fine, they have made no admission of liability over the mishandling of user data.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously faced intense questioning by US and European Union (EU) lawmakers over how the British political consulting firm obtained the personal information of 87 million Facebook users from a researcher. The intended purpose of how the data would be used was also investigated.

The ICO issued the small fine last year after it claimed that data from at least 1 million British users had been among the information mishandled by Cambridge Analytica and used for political advertising purposes, without users’ consent.

However, Facebook appealed the fine, but as of Wednesday, ICO said that it was dropping its appeal now that a settlement was reached. 

Under the settlement, Facebook has also been allowed to retain the documents disclosed by the ICO, in part because they may help in its own internal investigation into the issues around Cambridge Analytica. That investigation had been paused at the ICO’s request.