SAN FRANCISCO, CA (KMJ) – California’s Attorney General is taking legal action against Facebook.
“We had to file this petition because we weren’t getting the responses that we believe we were due, lawfully,” said Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
AG Becerra speaking Wednesday at a press conference in San Francisco said he’s asking a court to force Facebook to answer its subpoenas relating to the tech company’s practices privacy, disclosures and third-party access to user data.
“The California Department of Justice, pursuant to its statutory authority, issued investigative subpoenas against Facebook starting back in June 2018 to examine the company’s actions and business practices and any violations of user privacy. The responses we have received to date are patently inadequate,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Our work must move forward. We are left with little choice but to seek a court order compelling Facebook to faithfully comply with our duly authorized subpoenas.”
On June 4, 2018, the Attorney General issued an investigative subpoena requiring Facebook to produce documents related to its business practices including, among others, its management of its relationship with Cambridge Analytica, an app provider that accessed 87 million Americans’ data and used it to conduct election-related disinformation campaigns. Facebook moved slowly to respond to the subpoena, taking over a year to complete its search for and production of requested documents. On June 17, 2019, the Attorney General served a second subpoena and set of interrogatories requesting additional information regarding claims of Facebook’s violation of its users’ privacy. Facebook’s response to this second request for information was patently deficient. It provided no answers to 19 out of 27 written interrogatories, provided a partial response to six, and produced no documents in response to six document requests.
Because Facebook has failed to comply with the lawfully issued investigative subpoena and interrogatories served on June 17, 2019, Attorney General Becerra has filed a petition in superior court pursuant to section 11188 of the Government Code to enforce compliance with the Attorney General’s investigative subpoena and interrogatories.
The petition and subpoenas are attached to the electronic version of this press release here.
The Attorney General will be making regulations to protect Californians when they use the internet, and he’s asking residents to share their thoughts on data privacy.
You can submit a written comment by mail to the AG’s office:
Mailing Address
Attorney General’s Office
California Department of Justice
Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
You can email his office with the heading “Privacy Regulations.”
“Or you can share your thoughts in person at one of the four public hearings we will be holding across the state in the coming weeks,” said AG Becerra. ” Those hearings will be in Sacramento on December 2, in Los Angeles on the 3rd of December, in San Francisco on the 4th of December or in Fresno on the 5th of December.”
The comment period is open until December 6th.
Click to hear the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
