UK watchdog fines Facebook £500k over data breaches

First fine received

Facebook has been issued its first fine since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the maximum penalty from the UK's data protection watchdog at £500,000.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said Facebook has failed to ensure Cambridge Analytica had deleted users' data and will also bring criminal action against the "data broker's" now defunct parent company, SCL Elections. Sixteen months after it began its probe into political campaigners' use of personal data on Facebook, the ICO has said it will fine the social media platform £500,000 - the maximum amount allowable - for data breaches. The ICO also raised concerns about political parties buying personal information from from firms such as Cambridge Analytica, which came unde...