Facebook fights Massachusetts AG on turning over app records

Facebook asked a Massachusetts judge not to force it to turn over records of apps suspected of having misused users’ data to the state’s attorney general on Thursday, Reuters reports. 

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D) launched an investigation of the social media giant last year after Cambridge Analytica inappropriately gained access to as many as 87 million users’ data during the 2016 election.

{mosads}Massachusetts is just one of the states diving into how Facebook protects user data.

In August, Healey asked for the courts to issue the civil equivalent of a subpoena to Facebook, forcing it to hand over the identities of 10,000 apps that were deemed suspicious, according to Reuters.

Assistant Attorney General Sara Cable reportedly told Judge Brian Davis that the identities of the apps are required to better understand how Facebook dealt with a potential misuse of its users’ data.

However, Felicia Ellsworth, one of the attorneys representing Facebook, countered that a significant number of the records were covered by attorney-client privilege.

This probe follows a $5 billion settlement that Facebook agreed to pay in July to resolve a Federal Trade Commission review of its privacy practices.