Security News > 2020 > March > Aussie Watchdog Sues Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica Breach
Australia's privacy watchdog announced legal action against Facebook Monday for alleged "Systematic failures" exposing more than 300,000 Australians to a data breach by Cambridge Analytica.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner said it had initiated proceedings against the tech giant and that Facebook committed "Serious and/or repeated interferences with privacy".
The commission alleges the personal information of Australian Facebook users was disclosed without their permission to an app called "This Is Your Digital Life", which then sold the data to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
Australia's watchdog began its own investigation into Cambridge Analytica two years ago, with today's announcement it was pursuing Facebook in the courts the first action resulting from the probe.
"We claim these actions left the personal data of around 311,127 Australian Facebook users exposed to be sold and used for purposes including political profiling, well outside users' expectations."