Feds expand Facebook data sharing probe

The FBI, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have joined the US Justice Department investigation into Facebook’s data sharing practices.

The three agencies are examining statements about the social networking firm’s controversial dealings with Cambridge Analytica to determine if the Facbook’s public declarations about the data sharing scandal afftecting 87 million users tie up with underying facts, according to The Washington Post.

The federal investigators are looking at what Facebook knew in 2015 when it discovered that Cambridge Analytica had used Facebook data to create voter profiles and why the company didn’t reveal it at the time to its users or investors.

According to unnamed sources, the investigators are also looking into any discrepancies in more recent accounts and scrutinising the testimony of Facebook officials.

News of the expanded probe sent Facebook’s shares down 1.4% in after-hours trading, according to Seeking Alpha. Investors may also have been influenced by news that Facebook continued sharing data with 61 companies despite a public commitment to restrict third party access to user data.

Facebook introduced stricter guidelines on accessing user data for third party apps in April 2014, but admits in documents submitted to the US Congress at the weekend that while it gave businesses a year to transition to the new rules, 60 firms were given a further six-month extension and one was given an eight-month extension.

The firms that benefited from the extended access to users’ public profiles and some data from their Facebook friends include Nike, Spotify, UPS, Panasonic, Oracle, AOL, Nissan, Audi, Spotify, dating app Hinge and accessibility app Serotek.

Facebook also revealed it had granted special privileges to 52 other hardware and software firms, including Apple, Amazon and Huawei, to integrate “Facebook and Facebook features” into devices and services, which involved access to some basic user data, according to The Guardian.

However, Facebook said the firms were limited to building Facebook-approved products, that the integrations had all been approved by its engineering teams, and that 38 of the 52 had already been discontinued.

In the wake of the data sharing scandal with Cambridge Analytica, Facebook announced that it would start shutting down these application programming interfaces (APIs) and make other changes to restrict the information Facebook users can share.

Coinciding with the expanded federal probe, Facebook vice-president of product partnerships Ime Archibong announced additional API restrictions the company is putting in place to better protect people’s information.

“These changes will continue to enable developers to create social experiences, while protecting people’s information. We will keep you updated on additional changes we make,” he wrote in a blog post.

British MPs involved in the House of Commons inquiry into fake news have accused Facebook of attempting to avoid public scrutiny and Damian Collins, the chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee accused the firm of evasive behaviour.

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has refused to give evidence to the committee, sending the company’s chief technical officer, Mike Schroepfer, to appear in April in his place.