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		</div><p>Facebook has agreed to pay a fine of £500,000 (€579,000) following an investigation into the misuse of personal data in political campaigns in the UK.</p>
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<p>The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced today that the tech giant had withdrawn its appeal against the “monetary penalty notice” and would accept the fine without admitting any liability.</p>
<p>In 2017, the ICO opened a wide-ranging investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes and issued the penalty to the tech giant in October 2018.</p>
<p>The investigation found that between 2007 and 2014 Facebook processed user data by letting third-party app developers access personal information without the user’s informed consent.</p>
<blockquote><p>Protection of personal information and personal privacy is of fundamental importance, not only for the rights of individuals, but also as we now know, for the preservation of a strong democracy</p></blockquote>
<p>The most high-profile aspect of this was political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica after it was found to have harvested data, which resulted in multiple investigations and fines.</p>
<p>Facebook’s settings at the time allowed app developers to access the personal data of not just the people who used their app, but of all of their friends as well.</p>
<p>The ICO also said in its 2018 complaint that the social media company did not take action quickly enough after the misuse of data was discovered in 2015.</p>
<p>The breach was thought to affect 87 million worldwide users with at least one million people based in the UK.</p>
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<p>Following the ICO’s findings and issue of the penalty in October 2018, Facebook launched an appeal the following month.</p>
<p>In June 2019, an interim decision was made by the appeal court where the ICO was asked to disclose files about its decision-making process in order to examine potential bias against Facebook.</p>
<p>The ICO appealed against this decision in September before both parties came to the agreement announced today.</p>
<p>Both appeals will now be withdrawn and Facebook and the ICO will pay their own legal costs. The fine will be paid to the UK&#8217;s Treasury.</p>
<p>ICO deputy commissioner James Dipple-Johnstone said: “The ICO’s main concern was that UK citizen data was exposed to a serious risk of harm.</p>
<p>“Protection of personal information and personal privacy is of fundamental importance, not only for the rights of individuals, but also as we now know, for the preservation of a strong democracy.</p>
<p>“We are pleased to hear that Facebook has taken, and will continue to take, significant steps to comply with the fundamental principles of data protection.”</p>
<p>Facebook director and associate general counsel Harry Kinmonth said: “We are pleased to have reached a settlement with the ICO. As we have said before, we wish we had done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica in 2015.</p>
<p>“We made major changes to our platform back then, significantly restricting the information which app developers could access.</p>
<p>“Protecting people’s information and privacy is a top priority for Facebook, and we are continuing to build new controls to help people protect and manage their information.</p>
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<p>The ICO’s wider investigation into the use of data analytics for political campaigning is ongoing.</p>
<p>Facebook is now able to continue with its own internal investigations into the Cambridge Analytica scandal on the direction of the ICO.</p>
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