US Congress Needs Privacy Law to Protect Facebook User Data - Senator

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - One of the first tasks of the incoming US Congress will be to pass a tough privacy protection law to stop Facebook and other social media platform from providing personal information of users to outside organizations, Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a series of Twitter messages on Wednesday.

"Facebook’s seemingly unrestrained sharing of user data is the privacy equivalent of the BP oil spill. Ongoing, uncontained, & toxic," one tweet read. "We will be paying the price for decades."

Blumenthal also called for renewed hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee on privacy legislation when the new Congress convenes in January.

READ MORE: Washington State Fines Google, Facebook for Political Ads, Lack of Transparency

For years, Facebook provided users’ personal data to more than 150 companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and Netflix, effectively exempting business partners from Facebook’s own privacy rules, according to media reports.

In doing so, Blumenthal charged that Facebook has violated an earlier agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to restrict outside access to users’ personal information.