Britain's top privacy watchdog was granted a warrant to search the offices of Cambridge Analytica in the wake of allegations that information on millions of Facebook's users was scooped up without their consent, widening a probe that has cut the internet giant's share price by more than 10 per cent this week.
The Information Commissioner's Office said Friday in a statement on Twitter that a judge had granted the warrant to search the London offices. The watchdog is leading the probe with the backing of the European Union's remaining 27 regulators, who earlier this week vowed to collaborate to get to the bottom of the "very serious allegation with far-reaching consequences."
"We're pleased with the decision of the judge and we plan to execute the warrant shortly," the regulator said in the statement. "This is just one part of a larger investigation into the use of personal data for political purposes and we will now need time to collect and consider the evidence."
Facebook has also come under pressure since the revelations that vast swathes of data was illegally held by Cambridge Analytica after it was obtained from a researcher who shared the data without the social network's permission.
According to published news reports, Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan created a personality-analysis app that was used by 270,000 Facebook users, who in turn gave the app permission to access data on themselves and their friends, ultimately exposing a network of 50 million people.
