UK expects ‘full compliance’ in data breach probe

Prime Minister Theresa May has said she expects “full compliance” from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica in an investigation over the recent allegations regarding data harvesting methods and influencing of democratic processes in various countries.
“The allegations are clearly very concerning, it is absolutely right they should be properly investigated,” May told the House of Commons on Wednesday during a weekly question session.
She spoke of the allegations upon a question by the Scottish National Party (SNP) leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford.
“Does the prime minister agree that subverting the democratic political process in any country is totally unacceptable?” Blackford asked before pointing out that the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, Strategic Communications Laboratory (SCL), had links with May’s Conservative Party.
The SCL “has been run by a chairman of Oxford Conservative Association, its founding chairman was a former Conservative MP, a director appears to have donated over £700,000 [$984,000] to the Tory party, a former Conservative party chairman is a shareholder,” Blackford said.
May said the government had no links to Cambridge Analytica or the SCL.
“As far as I’m aware, the government has no current contracts with CA or with the SCL group … The allegations are clearly very concerning, it is absolutely right they should be properly investigated,” she said.
“I would expect Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and all organisations involved to comply fully with the investigation taking place,” she added.
Cambridge Analytica is at the center of data breach allegations since a former employee, Christopher Wylie, went public to tell how he built a software to influence voters’ choices.
British daily The Observer newspaper and The New York Times reported on Saturday that the company used personal information of 50 million Facebook users to influence the U.S. presidential election in 2016 on behalf of Donald Trump.