By Tali Arbel, Technology Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) --California's attorney general disclosed an ongoing probe into Facebook's privacy practices Wednesday, as it sued the company over its repeated refusal to turn over documents and answer questions.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said his probe has been going on for more than a year. He said he was disclosing it now because his office was making a public court filing to force the company to comply with subpoenas and requests for information.
"Facebook is not just continuing to drag its feet in response to the Attorney General's investigation, it is failing to comply," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit was filed in state Superior Court in San Francisco.
The California probe, one of many legal and regulatory inquiries into Facebook, began as a response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and grew into an investigation into whether Facebook misrepresented its privacy practices, deceived users and broke California law.
Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm, gathered details on as many as 87 million Facebook users without their permission. The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion this summer for privacy violations in an investigation that also grew out of that scandal. California officials say questions have been raised about what Facebook knew and why it didn't prevent third parties such as Cambridge Analytica from misusing user data.
The court filing said Facebook hasn't given answers on 19 of the attorney general's questions and hasn't given any new documents in response to six document requests. The filing also said Facebook has refused to search the emails of top executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, as the state requested.
Becerra's office said it requested additional information after Facebook took a year to respond to an initial subpoena.
Investigators sought communications among executives on developers' access to user data, the relationship between ad spending and access to data and the introduction of new privacy features and privacy-related news stories. Officials also sought information on the effects of privacy settings on third-party access to data and Facebook's enforcement of policies.
Facebook, which has its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, didn't respond to requests for comment.
California hadn't joined a separate probe involving attorneys general from New York and other states. The New York probe is looking into Facebook's dominance and any resulting anticompetitive conduct. California is also a holdout in a separate probe into Google's market dominance.
The District of Columbia and Massachusetts have also gone after Facebook on privacy. The Massachusetts attorney general's office is set to argue in a state court Thursday why Facebook should be compelled to stop resisting and turn over documents for its investigation.
Facebook's various legal troubles have yet to make a significant financial dent on the company. Even the FTC's $5 billion fine, the largest ever for a tech company, came to just under one-tenth of Facebook's revenue last year. The penalty was criticized by consumer advocates and a number of public officials as being too lenient.
AP Technology Writers Mae Anderson and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More