On Tuesday 20 March, the European Data Supervisor, Giovanni Buttarelli, returned to the subject of the recent revelations involving the use of the personal data of millions of Facebook users by the Cambridge Analytica company (see EUROPE 11984).
During a press conference, he stated, “We think that this is just the tip of the iceberg”. On Monday evening, the Supervisor published an opinion entitled, “Online Manipulation and Personal Data”, which highlights the complexity of this global phenomena and calls for greater cooperation between the different competent authorities.
The Deputy Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, considers that a certain paradox is emerging, given that the EU approved the commercial reuse of data, despite the fact that this reuse can, in certain cases, infringe the fundamental rights of European citizens, particularly when the goal of the data reuse changes over time.
The point was added to the meeting agenda on the same day of the "Article 29" working party, which brings together the European data protection authorities. Mr Buttarelli also stated, “We will speak with one voice, in terms of analysis and enforcement actions".
The British data protection authority also announced on Tuesday that it would be issuing a mandate to have access to the Cambridge Analytica servers. The European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, said that the G29 should launch a similar “task force” to the one created for coordinating national investigations on data piracy by the US Uber platform (see EUROPE 11917) – a suggestion welcomed by the European Supervisor.
At the same time, the European Commission said that Ms Jourová had been in contact with Facebook to, "find an appropriate slot to discuss the case with the company” during her trip to Washington, which comes to an end on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, announced on Twitter that Parliament had invited the founder of the social network, Mark Zuckerberg, “to the European Parliament. Facebook needs to clarify before the representatives of 500 million Europeans that personal data is not being used to manipulate democracy”. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)