Facebook to appeal £500,000 fine over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Facebook will appeal a £500,000 fine handed down by the information commissioner for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The social media giant claimed that the data watchdog found no evidence that UK Facebook users were impacted by Cambridge Analytica, and the fine was therefore unjustified.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) imposed its maximum penalty on the social media giant for processing people’s data without their consent, as well as failing to keep that data secure.

"The ICO's investigation stemmed from concerns that UK citizens' data may have been impacted by Cambridge Analytica, yet they now have confirmed that they have found no evidence to suggest that information of Facebook users in the UK was ever shared by Dr Kogan with Cambridge Analytica, or used by its affiliates in the Brexit referendum," said a statement from Facebook's lawyer Anna Benckert, according to the BBC.

Third-party apps siphoned off the personal data of millions of Facebook users between 2007 and 2014, with one app – created by Cambridge University lecturer Aleksandr Kogan – sharing data with Cambridge Analytica.

The data was used to target voters for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.