By Canadian Press

Facebook takes Canada’s privacy czar to court over personal data probe

Apr 20, 2020 | 9:58 AM

OTTAWA — Facebook wants a judge to toss out the federal privacy watchdog’s finding that the social media giant’s lax practices allowed personal data to be used for political purposes.

The company’s application in the Federal Court of Canada comes two months after privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien asked the same court to declare Facebook broke the law governing how the private sector can use personal information.

The 2019 investigation report from Therrien and his British Columbia counterpart cited major shortcomings in Facebook’s procedures and called for stronger laws to protect Canadians.

The probe followed reports that Facebook let an outside organization use a digital app to access users’ personal information, and that some of the data was then passed to others.

Recipients of the information included the firm Cambridge Analytica, which was involved in U.S. political campaigns.

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Facebook disputed the findings of the investigation and refused to implement recommendations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2020.

The Canadian Press