Government seeks Facebook report over data sharing by June 20

Taking suo-motu note of reports, the IT Ministry has asked the US-based firm for a detailed factual report on the issue. 

“Ministry of Electronics and IT has sought an explanation from Facebook seeking a detailed factual report on the issue,” an official statement said. 

The statement cited recent reports, which claim that Facebook has agreements that allow phone and other device manufacturers to access users’ personal information, including that of their friends, without taking their explicit consent. 

“The Government of India is concerned about reports of such lapses/ violations,” the statement added. When contacted, a Facebook spokesperson said: “We remain committed to protecting people’s information. We appreciate any opportunity to answer questions the government may have.” 

Facebook is already facing severe backlash globally for improperly sharing personal data of up to 87 million people with UK-based Cambridge Analytica. 

Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm, is embroiled in a scandal purportedly over its work for US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and is alleged to have improperly obtained information from tens of millions of Facebook users to develop political ads. I

ndia had, in March, issued notices to both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. It had responded to that notice (over data breach) and outlined in detail the “changes made” to protect users data.