Facebook is appealing the fine that was handed to it by the UK’s data watchdog last month for putting customer’s data at risk. The social network says that the £500,000 penalty was unjustified as the regulator had found no evidence that personal data was shared inappropriately.
It’s been a rough year for Facebook’s image and you would think it would accept the £500,000 fine quietly rather than draw more attention around the issue. However, it is determined to stand its ground on the matter by appealing the fine on the last possible day.
This whole issue arose when data gathered on Facebook was shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to target political advertising in the US. It was originally reported that roughly 1.1 million Facebook users in the UK had their details exposed.
The argument from the Information Commissioner’s Office is that Facebook not only failed to protect user’s data effectively but also didn’t react fast enough when the issue arose. This resulted in handing down the largest available fine of £500,000 which realistically for a company the size wouldn’t approach the size of a single executive’s bonus.