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California Reveals Its Been Investigating Facebook

As attorneys general from one state after another announced probes into tech giants this year, Californias was conspicuously silent.

Over the last two months, nearly every state and territory has announced investigations into the market dominance of Facebook, Google, or both.

The Golden States attorney general, Xavier Becerra, has been curiously silent as his peers made plans to examine the biggest tech firms in his backyard. Becerra's supposed inaction garnered him a wave of negative local press, and last week led The New York Times to wonder what, exactly, his office was up to.

On Wednesday, Californias top cop finally revealed he has actually been very busy investigating Facebook, in an inquiry that has lasted for over a year.

The California attorney general is suing Facebook to turn over key information the company has allegedly failed to release, including email correspondence from both CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.

The documents are connected to an 18-month investigation into the social networks data protection and privacy practices.

What initially began as an inquiry into the Cambridge Analytica scandal expanded over time to become an investigation into whether Facebook has violated California law by, among other things, deceiving users and ignoring its own policies, reads the lawsuit, which was filed in state superior court Wednesday.

The attorney general of New York, Letitia James, is leading a group of 46 states and territories examining the companys market dominance and privacy practices.

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Original article
Author: Conde Nast

Conde Nast has recently written 10 articles on similar topics including :
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