Facebook fined for misusing users’ personal data

The social media giant Facebook has been slammed a hefty amount of fine due to reportedly collecting personal information of its users to be used for advertising purposes.

Being charged for a fine of 1.2 million Euros ($1.4 million) by Spain, the information was informed after a national data protection authority Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD).

AEPD believes that the organization had been silently collecting personal data of users without letting them know beforehand. AEPD claimed that it found out three cases where Facebook gathered details related to gender, religious beliefs, personal tastes, and browsing history of millions of people in Spain without telling them how the information would be used, reports Tech Juice.

AEPD stated, “Facebook’s privacy policy contains generic and unclear terms. The social network uses specifically protected data for advertising, among other purposes, without obtaining users’ express consent as data protection law demands, a serious infringement.”

The investigation reported that the firm made use of cookies to collect data even of people who may not even use the social media site or if they access pages with the Facebook ‘like button’. Furthermore, Facebook has been using information for more than 17 months even after user deactivated his account through the thumbs up emoji, according to Engadget.

However, Facebook has not yet released a public statement on the allegation and the fine from Spain.