LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Facebook has been fined by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the data breach revealed earlier on this year related to political consulting and data harvesting company Cambridge Analytica.
The ICO, which warned of the fine during the summer, said Facebook had let a "serious breach" take place when it allowed app developers and Cambridge Analytica to use people's data "without clear consent" and had therefore fined the firm the maximum allowed under the old data protection rules applied before GDPR came into effect in May.

Cambridge Analytica was found to have used 87m Facebook users' data to target political advertising in the US 2016 elections.

The ICO said in a statement: "Between 2007 and 2014, Facebook processed the personal information of users unfairly and allowing access even if users had not downloaded the app, but were simply 'friends' with people who had."

"Facebook also failed to keep the personal information secure because it failed to make suitable checks on apps and developers using its platform," it added.

Facebook said that it was reviewing the decision and but admitted they should have done more to investigate claims about Cambridge Analytica and taken action in 2015," it said in a statement.

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