FB data theft: Cambridge Analytica gets Govt notice

New Delhi: As the uproar over data leak at Facebook taking centre stage, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has come into action and held a series of discussions with senior ministry officials to explore steps to ensure that consumers data on social media is not misused to influence elections.

Later on, the ministry has asked Cambridge Analytica and its intermediaries through a notice, in the first instance, to submit their responses on the above data breach issue by March 31.

"The ministry has issued a notice to Cambridge Analytica, wherein the serious breach of propriety and misuse of data intended to profile and influence voting behaviour has been highlighted," the ministry said.

The ministry has asked intermediaries to submit their replies on their engagement in any assignment to utilise the data of Indians, details about the entities roped in for data collection.

The intermediaries have also been asked to submit their responses on how did they come to be in possession of such data, whether consent was taken from the individuals or not, how such data collected was used and whether any profiling has been done on the basis of such data?

Notably, the meeting, according to sources, was held with top IT ministry officials on Thursday and it lasted for over two hours. The notice to Cambridge Analytica is the outcome of the brainstorming session with officials over the long-term solutions to address the pertinent issue.

According to IT Ministry's official communiqué, the government has stated that the Centre is committed to ensure the protection of the fundamental right of privacy and safety and security of data for every citizen of the country.

Earlier this week, Prasad had warned social media giant Facebook of "stringent" action for any attempt to influence polls through data theft and had even threatened to summon its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, if needed.

Facebook, which has over two billion users globally, including over 200 million in India, had faced backlash on the data scandal issue, prompting Zuckerberg to issue an apology for the "major breach of trust", and promising to take steps to protect user data.