BICOM

The Israeli Ministry of Justice announced yesterday that it is opening an “administrative investigation” to examine possible violations of Israeli law by Facebook.

The announcement was made following reports of the transfer of personal information from Facebook to Cambridge Analytica “and the possibility of additional violations of Israelis’ personal information”.

The ministry’s Privacy Protection Authority (PAA) — the regulatory and enforcement authority for personal digital information — said: “The PPA will investigate whether the personal information of Israeli users has been illegally used in a manner that violates their right to privacy and violates the laws of privacy protection in Israel.”

It added: “According to [Israeli] privacy laws, personal information may only be used for the purpose for which it was handed over, and may be transferred to another party only if consent has been given.”

Protected personal data under the Israel Privacy Law includes any information relating to an individual, whether it relates to his or her private, professional or public life, and includes names, photos, email addresses, bank details, posts on social network websites, medical information, or even computers’ IP addresses.

The CEO of Cambridge Analytica also claimed to an undercover reporter, posing as a potential client, to have used Israeli companies and former Israeli spies in its intelligence gathering. The report by Britain’s Channel 4 New did not name any Israeli companies or individuals.