The UK has fined Facebook $645,000 over Cambridge Analytica’s data harvesting practices, which exploited the data of 87 million users of the social network.
That represents a gnat bite for the tech giant, which generated $5.1 billion in net profit in the second quarter of the year. However, the amount is the maximum penalty available to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under 1998’s Data Protection Act.
The UK’s updated Data Protection Act 2018, which implements the EU’s GDPR rules, stipulates a maximum fine of 4 percent of annual global turnover ($1.6 billion in Facebook’s case); but, it wasn’t in place at the time of the Cambridge Analytica activities.
