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LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 19 April 2018

Brazil’s government grills Facebook over misuse of data

Development: On 18 April, the Brazilian government gave US social media firm, Facebook, 10 days to respond to questions about data security of its users.

Significance: Brazil is one of a growing list of countries demanding answers from Facebook. It comes a week after Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, appeared in front of US Congress to respond to allegations that the company had improperly shared personal data from 87m users with third parties like British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. At least 443,000 Brazilian Facebook users were allegedly affected. The concern is that manipulation of Facebook users’ private data could be used to influence Brazil's October general election.

  • Brazil’s consumer protection agency (Senacon), part of the justice minsitry, asked Facebook to respond to a questionnaire or risk a R$9m (US$2.7m) fine. Senacon is demanding to know how many Brazilians were affected, what their data was used for and whether this was shared with third parties without users’ permission.
  • A representative from Senacon, Ana Carolina Caram, said the alleged violations of user privacy were being taken extremely seriously. “This unlawful behaviour violates the constitution, which protects citizens’ right to privacy,” she said in a statement.
  • National legislators have also voiced concerns, which could lead to the tightening of Brazil’s existing data laws. Two commissions in the federal chamber of deputies for data protection and science & technology have asked representatives from the Brazilian subsidiary of Facebook to speak how data was used by Cambridge Analytica. Representatives from the federal public ministry, Brazil’s electoral court (TSE) and the Senacon have also been invited to attend the session.

Looking Ahead: News of the Cambridge Analytica scandal comes at a critical moment in Brazil’s electoral season. With voting intentions currently divided, the impact of targeted propaganda through social media sites could have a considerable impact on the election result.

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