The government is yet to get any response from UK-based data analyst firm Cambridge Analytica to its second notice to the firm on the data breach issue. Any view will be taken only after replies are received, senior officials at the government said on Friday.
The second notice with additional queries were sent to both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook on April 25 and the government had asked them to respond by May 10.
Last week, senior government officials had said that Cambridge Analytica ‘will have to respond’ to the issues raised by the Indian government irrespective of its bankruptcy filing plans or closure of its business.
While Facebook has responded to the government’s latest notice over alleged data breach, outlining in detail the ‘changes made’ to protect users’ information.
“We have received the responses from Facebook late last night (Thursday), and we are going through them thoroughly. We are matching their points with what we have asked them. Cambridge Analytica on May 7 had written that they will be sending their responses soon,” a senior official at Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, told reporters here.
The official said since the UK company is under probe from their government, giving some to them will be appropriate. However, when asked about what kind of actions can be taken if they don’t respond, the official said nothing can be decided as of now.
Meanwhile, Facebook has confirmed that they have furnished their responses to the government and said that they are grateful to the Indian government for giving an opportunity to address concerns.
“We are committed to protect people’s information and safeguard the integrity of elections in India. We hope we have helped to answer important questions about the changes we have made to further protect users information as well as elections from abuse and exploitation including removing fake accounts, increasing ads transparency and reducing the spread of false news” a spokesperson at the company said.
The government had, in March, sent a notice to Facebook asking whether the personal data of Indian voters and users has been compromised by the UK-based Cambridge Analytica or any other downstream entity.
A similar notice was dispatched to Cambridge Analytica following media reports that it had misused data to profile users and influence elections.
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