Parliament Launches Public Hearing with Facebook over Data Leak Scandal

Jakarta, (Antara) - House of Representatives launches a public hearing with Facebook representatives to clarify the data leak scandal of one million users from Indonesia, an official said here on Tuesday.

"Our agenda for today is conducting a public hearing with Facebook Indonesia on Tuesday morning. The Facebook representatives have sent us the materials for the hearing," Abdul Kharis Almasyari, head of Commission I of the House of Representatives said in Jakarta.

Almasyari stressed that the house members will ask the California-based social network company to clarify the data leak scandal, and explain the potential risks and threats to some one million Indonesian users.

Facebook, he emphasized, needs to present a complete picture of the leak, before taking actions to contain the damages and anticipate the future risks.

"We could not take any actions, before the Facebook clarify the allegation, and explain the full account on the leak. Hence after the public hearing, we will determine the best step for us," Almasyari remarked.

Last week, the House of Representatives asked Facebook to attend the public hearing, but it got cancelled because the social network company was failed to appear at the meeting.

Besides the house members, the Information and Communication Ministry also has called on Facebook to submit its auditing report on the data leak scandal.

The Information Minister Rudiantara also asked the social network company to close all third party applications, including ones that are operated by the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

"We ask Facebook to shut down the apps that are linked to the third party companies, mainly all the Cambridge Analytica's quiz apps. The Facebook should close those apps in Indonesia," Rudiantara said after meeting the social network representatives in Jakarta, Thursday (April 5).

The minister has requested Facebook to conduct a full investigation to the third party-linked apps, in order to prevent the similar scandal, and to contain the damages earlier.

All social network companies that are operating in Indonesia, Rudiantara remarked, have to comply with the country's laws, including the Minister Regulation No.20 Year 2016 on the Protect of Data Privacy.

Since 2015, the UK-based The Guardian has published an article that is suspecting a third party has misused the personal data of Facebook users in US. The allegation has became a major global scandal, after The Guardian and The New York Times issued reports of the data leak on the California-based social media platform in 2017.

Following the reports, the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg this year has admitted and apologized over the leak, during the hearing with the US Congress on Tuesday (April 10). He promised that Facebook will reform its data privacy protection for the users.(*)