Information Commissioner forces Facebook auditors to pull out of Cambridge Analytica offices
The Information Commissioner has forced Facebook to pull an audit of Cambridge Analytica's offices as she applies for an urgent warrant to investigate the data firm's servers.
Elizabeth Denham said she had asked Facebook to "back away" when the social network's auditors entered Cambridge Analytica's London offices on Monday night. Just hours earlier, Facebook had announced that Cambridge Analytica was granting "complete access to their servers and systems".
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is investigating both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica over whether the companies have broken data protection laws. It has said criminal or civil charges will be "pursued vigorously".
Facebook is under growing pressure over how it allowed data from 50m users to be obtained by Cambridge Analytica and over the way it handled the situation in 2015 when it first emerged that user data may have been compromised. On Monday night the company said it would investigate Cambridge Analytica's computers following reports that the data has not been deleted.
However, Ms Denham said the visit could compromise the ICO's own investigation. "We are seeking a warrant so as the regulator we can go in and get to the bottom, search the servers, do a data audit, and by Facebook going in at this point we’re concerned about the integrity of our investigation," she told the BBC.
"We’re looking at Facebook at the same time, so our advice to Facebook was to back away, let us as the regulator get in there and do the work, and they have agreed."
The ICO is applying for a warrant to gain access to Cambridge Analytica's office, and hopes to have it approved on Tuesday. Ms Denham said she was using all the powers available to her.
Facebook said: "Independent forensic auditors from Stroz Friedberg were on site at Cambridge Analytica’s London office this evening. At the request of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, which has announced it is pursuing a warrant to conduct its own on-site investigation, the Stroz Friedberg auditors stood down."
She said the ICO was investigating whether Facebook took the appropriate steps to protect users' data. "We’re looking at whether Facebook secure and safeguarded personal information on the platform, and when they found out about the loss of the data, whether they acted robustly and whether or not people were informed."
Cambridge Analytica denies that it misused data, and says it deleted all the Facebook data in question in 2014. Facebook suspended the company last week.
More than $30bn (£21bn) was wiped off Facebook's market value on Monday.
