UNDER SCRUTINY

Report: FBI, SEC Join Probe of Facebook’s Data-Sharing Scandal

Seeking why social media giant waited so long to disclose Cambridge Analytica’s theft of data.

Facebook is reportedly facing more heat for its data-sharing with Cambridge Analytica, with the FBI, SEC, and the Federal Trade Commission now joining a federal investigation focusing on how the social-media giant handled the theft of data of 71 million Americans. Sources cited by The Washington Post say investigators are examining what Facebook knew in 2015, when it learned that Cambridge Analytica—a data firm that would go on to work for the Trump campaign—improperly obtained the Facebook data of tens of millions of people to create voter profiles. Facebook revealed the information breach to the public just before news reports about it broke in March. Investigators are also reportedly going over the company’s recent accounts of the data scandal to check for discrepancies, including in the Capitol Hill testimony of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company has confirmed that it received information requests from federal agencies and vowed to “continue our assistance as their work continues.”