EU chief calls for audit of Facebook's data practices

The European Union is set to increase pressure on Facebook to come clean about its data practices after the chair of Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs Committee filed a resolution for the social media company to face “a full and independent audit of its platform investigating data protection and security of personal data”.
British MEP Claude Moraes said that “not only have Facebook’s policies and actions potentially jeopardised citizens’ personal data, but then they have also had an impact on electoral outcomes and on the trust citizens pose in digital solutions and platforms”.
The committee aims to adopt the resolution and put it to the full assembly for endorsement in late October.
The resolution also urges European justice authorities to investigate any alleged “misuse of the online political space by foreign forces”, and calls on the EU’s Executive Commission to propose ways to boost the powers of Europe’s public prosecutor’s office so it can tackle crimes against electoral infrastructure.
It notes “with regret” that Facebook did not send staff with the right technical knowledge to answer lawmakers’ questions and “points out that such an approach is detrimental to the trust European citizens have in social platforms”.
The move follows last week’s ultimatum issued by EU Consumer Commissioner Věra Jourová over Facebook’s failure to comply with new EU transparency rules to tell its 380 million European users how it uses their data to make money.