Yet again, another regulator, the Competition Bureau of Canada (the Bureau), has unmasked Facebook for incessant acts of breaching its user’s information privacy. On May 19, 2020, the Competition Commission settled an investigation penalising Facebook forfor claims of data privacy following a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) under the compliance of PIPEDA). Over the past five years, the social media giant has been facing scrutiny regarding its data privacy policies. After the outrage of British data firm , it has been glib in steering major policy changes in respect to privacy. Investigation revealed that Facebook had been loosely treating its user's data and had disclosed it to third parties affecting. The OPC came to this conclusionafter due deliberation, highlighting the importance of “ This has not only plunged the users confidence on the Facebook in Canada, but also in many jurisdictions including its host jurisdiction in the US by .
Disingenuous and Deceptive Behaviour
Prior to the whistleblower revelation of Facebook's involvement in Cambridge Analytica influencing , it had been popularising various quizzes and games on its platform. This was to engage users in order to conductto check if instigation of "emotional contagion” was possible through social media. Succeeding in such attempts, it gave multiple third partiesaccess to its users’ data (e.g., content posted on Facebook and messages exchanged through Messenger). Thus, it is imperative to regulate such social media platforms. Facebook superficially handles its privacy policies through, which hampers the meaningful andfrom users. Accordingly, the Canadian regulators are making painstaking efforts to protect citizens from such undue influences by penalizing such activities. The Bureau explicitly confirms thatdo not in their entirety protect the users to control their respective messenger chats and other private activities. Rather, there are loopholes (such as, installation of third-party apps) by which third parties can access such information rendering enormous profits to Facebook. Though Facebook had contended to refrain from such activities in 2015, that such practice continued until 2018.
Intertwined Relationship of the Regulators in the Privacy Dispute
Due to complexity of the cases and inadequacy of laws in the field of data privacy, the OPC and Competition Commission have gone to great lengths to achieve a comprehensive settlement and enforcement in this case. As both had different approaches and interests, being regulated under different laws, including PIPEDA and the respectively, achieving consistency with regards to regulations can be a challenge. Intertwining both regulators helped in bridging the gap between the “” of federal and provincial privacy laws, while Competition Bureau sought an administrative penalty helping in the enforcement proceedings. Though the OPC has been criticized in the past for lack of enforcement powers, coalition of both regulators has demonstrated benefit to the Canadian privacy regime.
In conclusion, considering thecurrent scenario, it is foreseeable that more regulators mayinterpret privacy issues differently and as per their mandates. This is because the privacy law framework in Canada, and elsewhere, has not entirely addressed online infringement issues and it will take a considerable period of time to develop comprehensive statutes to regulate these novel and often nefarious online activities.
Written by Aishwerya Kansal, IPilogue Contributor. Aishwerya is pursuing Master’s in Law in International Business Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School, and she is also an IP Innovation Clinic Fellow.