Data privacy row: Mozilla suspends advertising on Facebook's platform

Internet company Mozilla Corp said on Wednesday it was suspending advertising on Facebook Inc's social media platform on concerns of data privacy.

The decision follows allegations that a political consultancy gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million Facebook users to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

“We found that its (Facebook) current default settings leave access open to a lot of data — particularly with respect to settings for third party apps,” Mozilla said in a blog post. 

On late Wednesday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the company's handling of a row over user privacy, while promising tougher steps to restrict developers' access to such information.

Mozilla said it would consider returning to Facebook if the company strengthens its default privacy settings for third party apps.

British advertising group ISBA on Wednesday threatened to pull out ads for big brands if investigations show user data has been misused.  

Facebook may dodge EU bullet 

 Facebook is set to dodge tough new EU sanctions even if any violations in the Cambridge Analytica scandal are proven, EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said in an interview with Bloomberg TV from Washington.

The new EU rules in place from May 25 will enable national regulators to “impose much higher sanctions, which cannot be applied in this current case, because there’s no retro-activity possible,” Jourova said.

Fining powers currently vary from state to state, with possible sanctions in the UK, where the regulator is investigating, capped at 500,000 pounds ($706,000).