Facebook is asking a judge to toss out the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s findings that its practices led to users’ data being used for political reasons.
In a submission to the Federal Court of Canada obtained by The Canadian Press, the social media giant states the findings were “neither impartial nor independent, and lacked procedural fairness.”
Following a deep investigation into the social media giant in 2019, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien stated that Facebook needed to enhance its procedures and that there should be stronger laws to protect Canadians.
The investigation took place after there were reports that the company allowed third-party organizations to use an app to get users’ personal data and give it to others.
Users who downloaded the app were asked to fill out a personality quiz, but the app collected a lot of other data about the user and their Facebook friends. The report alleged that the app led to the potential disclosure of 600,000 Canadians’ information.
Commissioner Therrien stated that by doing so, Facebook had infringed on Canadian privacy laws and did not have the proper safeguards to protect users’ data.
Facebook then refused to implement any new changes to its practices and disputed the findings. Now, the social media giant is arguing that there is no evidence that Canadian users’ information was exploited and wants the judge to toss out the findings.
Source: The Canadian Press
