We have written before on the importance of knowing what data you have, about who and for what purpose but it appears Mark Zuckerburg has recently found himself at the forefront of a social media scandal and has had to accept responsibility for such a major breach of data protection.
It’s no secret that Facebook holds millions of people’s data across the world, that’s common sense, but with data comes more data and even more data on top of that. It has recently transpired that Facebook assisted a data analytics firm in harvesting 50 million profiles from the social media site. Over 270,000 people downloaded the app in question and consented to their data being used, however, every one of the 270,000 people consenting had hundreds of friends linked to their social media account who had not consented to their information being used.
This scandal has hit the headlines in the wake of industry panic which has seen thousands of companies begin their preparations to comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations (‘GDPR’) coming into force on 25th May 2018. One of the key points contained within the new Regulations is for the ‘Data Controller’ and/or ‘Data Processor’ to know why they are retaining particular data and for what purpose. The ‘Data Subject’ then needs to be informed of these reasons and expressly consent to the same.
This begs the question, had the data analytics company commenced their Facebook campaign after May 25th 2018, would they have found themselves in the position they are in now? Would the new measures being introduced with GDPR have reduced the chances of a data protection breach from occurring?
Fines for breaching GDPR can be up to 4% of turnover or 20 million Euros. Even for a company of the size of Facebook, a fine of this size would be painful.
The enormity of this scandal should act as a reminder to all companies to ensure all efforts are being made ahead of the implementation deadline to comply with GDPR. Although the general message that GDPR brings with it is clear, the steps towards implementation are not simple.
Oakwood Solicitors offer a fixed fee GDPR solution to assist SME’s preparing for GDPR and information can be obtained by emailing r.coulthard@oakwoodsolicitors.co.uk
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