Facebook has agreed to pay a token fine in exchange for taking no liability for the data misuse controversy.
Even after more than a year, Facebook has yet to recover from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The company's role in compromising millions of its users' data has become a staple for news outlets.
Up to now, various government bodies are still investigating Facebook's liabilities, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spending a lot of time in hearings in the Unite States Senate.
In the U.S. and the U.K., Facebook is in hot water. Both countries want to make it liable, along with any future offenders, for the inappropriate mass collection of user data.
It should be noted that Cambridge Analytica used the data they've collected to target people with political propaganda. These often have misleading or totally misinformed content.
However, Facebook staunchly denies any wrongdoing. They maintain that they put the data protection, and privacy of their users is their top priority.
In spite of all of this, Facebook has agreed to pay a £500K ($644K) fine to the U.K. just to get it off its back.
The maximum at the time
Back in July 2018, while investigations are still actively taking place, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office issued the fine to Facebook. At the time, £500K was the maximum allowable fine by the law.
Later on, the EU would put into place the General Data Protection Regulations, which would have fined Facebook for four percent of their global turnover, amounting to £17 million ($19 million)
The ICO puts the blame over the Cambridge Analytica scandal squarely on Facebook's shoulders. They said that Facebook failed to prevent third-parties from accessing its user data and weren't able to notify the users of the issue.
Facebook subsequently appealed the decision, while also claiming to cooperate fully with the ICO in their investigation.
Since then, Facebook has made changes on their platform. They've also fixed a security flaw that allowed the mass harvesting of data in the first place.
Not a referee
Facebook's new data protection policies may prevent user data from being obtained without consent. However, Facebook would still not own up to the responsibility of keeping misleading political content on their platform.
A recent speech by Facebook VP Nick Clegg stated the organization's stance on political ads. He says, "It is not our role to intervene when politicians speak," also adding that it's not appropriate for Facebook to become a self-appointed referee for political speech on the platform.
In the Twitterverse
However, not everyone on Facebook feels the same. In a recently leaked letter from Facebook's own message boards reads, "Our current policies on fact-checking people in political office, or those running for office, are a threat to what FB stands for."
In contrast, another social media platform has taken a firmer stance against political ads.
"We've made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally," reads a tweet by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. "We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought," he added.
Twitter's ban will be put in place starting November 22, with all the details, revealed a full week prior.
