European Parliament calls for a full audit of Facebook over its data breach track record

The European Parliament has today called for a full audit to be carried out on Facebook to assess the security of its users' personal data and the firm's data protection policies, in light of this year's string of data breaches.

MEPs have today adopted a resolution which urged Facebook to allow EU bodies to carry out a full audit, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal earlier this year in which the data of 87m Facebook users was improperly obtained and then misused.

MEPs noted the data obtained by Cambridge Analytica may have been used to sway political opinion by both sides during the EU referendum and the 2016 US presidential election.

The body proposed Facebook should adopt several further measures to prevent future election meddling on its platform, including allowing EU member states to carry out investigations into its misuse by foreign actors.

In failing to prevent the spate of data breaches Facebook has suffered in recent years, MEPs argued the social media giant not only breached the trust of EU citizens, "but indeed EU [data protection] law".

The news follows the UK Information Commissioner's Office confirmation to award Facebook the maximum penalty over Cambridge Analytica, amounting to just £500,000. 

Claude Moraes, chair of the EU Civil Liberties Commission which passed a similar resolution earlier this month, said: "This is a global issue, which has already affected our referenda and our elections. This resolution sets out the measures that are needed, including an independent audit of Facebook, an update to our competition rules, and additional measures to protect our elections.

"Action must be taken now, not just to restore trust in online platforms, but to protect citizens’ privacy and restore trust and confidence in our democratic systems."

A Facebook spokesperson reiterated the firm's statement made at the time of the last resolution: "We are grateful to the European Parliament for the number of opportunities to come and explain the changes we have made to our platform. We are working relentlessly to ensure the transparency, safety and security of people who use Facebook.

"Over the last months we have developed sophisticated systems that combine technology and people to prevent election interference on our services. This is part of a broader challenge for us at Facebook to be more proactive about protecting our community from harm and taking a broader view of our responsibility overall."