Facebook breach victims ‘could get £12k’

BRITISH victims of the Facebook data scandal could be entitled to £12,500 each in compensation, lawyers said yesterday.

More than a million Britons are believed to have had personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica after completing a personality quiz on the social network – leaving Facebook facing a massive bill in the UK alone.

It comes as the firm’s chief Mark Zuckerberg today prepares to issue an apology as he is hauled before the US Congress over the scandal. He will tell politicians: ‘I’m sorry…I’m responsible’, admitting the site ‘didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm’.

Yesterday Facebook began posting alerts to the newsfeeds of 87million users worldwide whose data may have been shared with CA, of whom 1.1million are thought to be from the UK.

Dispute resolution lawyer Jonathan Compton said those affected could complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office or make a claim through the civil courts on the grounds that losing their data had been ‘distressing’.

Mr Compton, a partner at DMH Stallard, said: ‘The start point for any award might be between £10,000 and £12,500. This will vary of course if the personal information is comparatively trivial or very serious and damaging.’

The ICO will investigate 30 companies in the wake of the CA scandal, with information commissioner Elizabeth Denham yesterday saying recent events had been a ‘game changer’ in data protection.

Mr Zuckerberg, 33, who declined invitations to appear before British MPs, will be grilled over two days at Capitol Hill. He will begin by saying: ‘We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it and I’m responsible for what happens here.’

He will also admit Facebook estimates 126million users may have seen content created by the Internet Research Agency – a Russian group that spread fake news.