The city of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Facebook over the social media giant’s alleged failure to protect user information, opening the company up to a new set of challenges as it faces increasing pressure from Congress over unauthorized data disclosures.
“Facebook’s policies and practices related to third party access and use of consumer data violate the District’s consumer protection laws,” the complaint reads. The company “could have prevented third parties from misusing its consumers’ data had it implemented and maintained reasonable oversight.”
The D.C. attorney general is seeking an injunction and civil penalties to “prevent Facebook from engaging in these and similar unlawful trade practices.”
A Facebook spokesperson said the company is reviewing the complaint and looks forward to “continuing our discussions with attorneys general in DC and elsewhere.”
Facebook’s stock was down 5.68 percent to $135.50 per share in New York trading.
The complaint comes after the New York Times on Tuesday reported that Facebook allowed Netflix and Spotify to access users’ personal messages. Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s director of privacy and public policy, denied that any third-party partnerships violated agreements the company had with the Federal Trade Commission.
The lawsuit cites the revelations earlier this year that Facebook allowed political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to access information on upwards of 70 million users without explicit consent. The scandal, the first in a slew of issues that have plagued the company this year, spurred intense congressional scrutiny and launched new calls for a nationwide privacy law.
Such a measure is expected to be a top priority in 2019 after Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives.
“It is beyond obvious at this point that social media platforms are simply not up to the task of voluntarily ensuring the privacy and security of their users. Congress must step in,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote in a Twitter post on Wednesday.
[Opinion: You, the user, are Facebook’s most profitable product]
