James Martin/CNET
Washington, DC, Attorney General Karl Racine has said his court case against Facebook for last year's Cambridge Analytica data breach will go ahead. Facebook's second attempt to block the lawsuit has now failed, Racine tweeted Friday.
The DC attorney general sued Facebook in December, alleging that the company failed to safeguard the personal data of its users. Facebook's "lax oversight and misleading privacy settings" allowed Cambridge Analytica to access the personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users, the lawsuit said. The scandal saw CEO Mark Zuckerberg testify to Congress on Facebook's data privacy policies.
#BREAKING: For the 2nd time, the court has denied Facebooks attempt to stop our lawsuit that seeks to hold the company accountable for not protecting the personal data of nearly half of DC residents.
We look forward to discovery and continuing our case to protect consumers.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) June 28, 2019
"For the second time, the court has denied Facebook's attempt to stop our lawsuit that seeks to hold the company accountable for not protecting the personal data of nearly half of DC residents," Racine tweeted. "We look forward to discovery and continuing our case to protect consumers."
According to the lawsuit, Facebook didn't properly monitor data gathering by third-party apps, and its privacy settings aren't easy for people to use. This is a breach of DC's consumer protection law, the lawsuit alleges.
"Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used," Racine said in a statement in December. "Today's lawsuit is about making Facebook live up to its promise to protect its users' privacy."
A Facebook spokesperson told CNET that protecting its users' data and privacy is "a top priority."
"We've taken a hard look at the information apps can use when you connect them to Facebook, as well as other data practices," the Facebook spokesperson told CNET in an emailed statement Friday. "We know we have more work to do. However, we do not believe this suit has any merit and will continue to defend ourselves vigorously."
The US Federal Trade Commission also kicked off an investigation of Facebook after the Cambridge Analytica scandal for violating a legal agreement it had with the US government to keep user data private. Facebook has previously estimated that the FTC could fine the company $3 billion to $5 billion.
The New York attorney general's office is similarly investigating Facebook over the harvesting of email contacts of about 1.5 million users without their consent.
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