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Australia Sues Facebook For $529 Billion. That's More Than The Government Makes In A Year !
- By Elite CIO
Mar 12, 2020
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Australia Sues Facebook For $529 Billion. That's More Than The Government Makes In A Year !
Facebook is being sued by the Australian government forallegedly violating the country's privacy laws, with requested damagespotentially reaching $529 billion. The Cambridge Analytica data scandal mayhave been years ago now, but its effects still linger on.
According to the suit filed to the Australian Federal Courton Monday, Facebook violated the privacy of approximately 311,127 Australiansby disclosing their personal information to the This is Your Digital Life appbetween March 2014 and May 2015. The developers of the app sold personalinformation to Cambridge Analytica, which used it for political profiling.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioneralleges that Facebook "failed to take reasonable steps to protect thoseindividuals’ personal information from unauthorized disclosure," andfurther disclosed said information for a purpose other than that for which ithad been collected. Both are violations of Australia's Privacy Act 1988.
"We consider the design of the Facebook platform meantthat users were unable to exercise reasonable choice and control about howtheir personal information was disclosed," Australian InformationCommissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk said in a press release.
"Facebook’s default settings facilitated the disclosureof personal information, including sensitive information, at the expense ofprivacy."
The suit alleged the majority of the affected Australiansdidn't actually install the app themselves. Instead, their data was collectedafter their Facebook friends downloaded the app, giving them no reasonableopportunity to opt out. The OAIC claims only 53 people in Australia downloadedthe This is Your Digital Life app.
Each alleged violation carries a maximum penalty of $1.7million, which is a significant mountain of cash by itself. But when multipliedby the 311,127 cases alleged by the OAIC, it grows to the almost comical sum of$529 billion. For comparison, the Australian government's total revenue in2019-20 is estimated to be $513.7 billion.
However, the OAIC told the Australian Financial Review thatthe court could potentially consolidate all these cases into a single breach,which would reduce potential damages back down to $1.7 million.
Other governments have previously come at Facebook forprivacy violations stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The companyagreed to pay a $5 billion fine to the U.S. government in 2019, and was hitwith a £500,000 fine from the U.K. in 2018. Yet even considering the conversionrate, these are paltry sums compared to the damages Australia has requested.
In a statement to TechCrunch, a Facebook spokesperson saidit had "actively engaged with the OAIC over the past two years as part oftheir investigation" and made changes to the platform. "We’re unableto comment further as this is now before the Federal Court."
Source: Mashable India