UK Watchdog Fines Facebook $645,000 for Data Protection Breach - ICO

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has imposed a maximum allowable fine of 500,000 pounds (about $645,000) on Facebook for failing to ensure the protection of users' personal data, ICO said in a press release.

"The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined Facebook £500,000 for serious breaches of data protection law…. After considering representations from the company, the ICO has issued the fine to Facebook and confirmed that the amount – the maximum allowable under the laws which applied at the time the incidents occurred — will remain unchanged," the ICO said in a press release.

The company responded to the watchdog, stating it "respectfully disagrees" with some of the ICO's findings on the issue.

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Earlier in July, the ICO had already fined the tech giant the same sum due to the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal, when the data of some 87 million people was used without their knowledge.

In March 2018, Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie exposed how the company had been using Facebook personality quizzes to create datasets of unprecedented scale, which were then allegedly weaponized to sway voter opinion in favor of the highest bidder.