EU leaders to tackle Facebook data row at summit

BRUSSELS: EU leaders meeting in Brussels this week will discuss the scandal over harvested data from Facebook, European Council President Donald Tusk said Wednesday, linking it to the broader threats including election meddling.

Tusk said the summit would deal with issues of personal privacy raised by the row over the misuse of Facebook data by British firm Cambridge Analytica, which played a role in US President Donald Trump's election campaign.

He said the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in Britain earlier this month, which London blames on Moscow, shows that "we need to increase our resilience to hybrid threats, such as undermining trust in our democracies through fake news or election meddling".

"This seems to be particularly relevant in view of the recent revelations about Cambridge Analytica," said Tusk, the summit host as head of the European Council, which groups the 28 member states.

"In this context we will address the need to guarantee transparent practices as well as full protection of citizen privacy and personal data by social networks and digital platforms," Tusk said.

The EU leaders are likely to issue a short statement on the matter, an EU source said.

Facebook expressed outrage Tuesday over the misuse of its data as Cambridge Analytica suspended its chief executive

The EU leaders are taking up the issue following calls for an investigation by both the European Commission and the European Parliament, which has invited Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to speak to the assembly.