A US judge has ruled that Facebook must provide data in an investigation into applications that have violated users’ privacy. This is a study in the US state of Massachusetts.
American media report this on the basis of a ruling from a higher court in Massachusetts. According to Judge Brian Davis, the prosecutor has a valid reason for requesting the data, and Facebook will have to hand them over. Facebook says it is disappointed with the ruling and is considering an appeal, The New York Times reports.
The lawsuit concerns thousands of applications that the American state would like to investigate, to see whether they have violated the privacy of users. According to the judge’s ruling, Facebook has 90 days to hand over the data for the investigation.
Facebook was in the news some time ago because of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This company has collected data from users on a large scale via Facebook, and has thereby tried, among other things, to manipulate the American elections. Shortly thereafter, the Massachusetts prosecutor began the investigation. Facebook itself intervened by blocking the access of tens of thousands of applications.