MR. EDITOR:
Meta has just been ordered to pay US$25 billion for deceiving its users about the use of their data, more than 43 million times, in a case stemming from Cambridge Analytica.
I had the opportunity to speak at length about this case with Elizabeth Denham, then UK Information Commissioner (ICO), who investigated it. She conveyed to me her deep concern about the enormous electoral interference that social media platforms could have.
This ruling confirms it: data protection is not merely a technical or consumer matter. It is a civil and political right that safeguards our personal and collective integrity against manipulation and control. We are our data. When they are exploited—especially our fears and aspirations, as happened here—the result is the mass manipulation of people's behavior.
That is why Chile's new data protection law is so important. Delays are not neutral: they leave a fundamental right unprotected.
Marcelo Drago
Attorney
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TO THE EDITOR:
Meta has just been ordered to pay US$25 billion for deceiving its users about the use of their data, more than 43 million times, in a case arising from Cambridge Analytica. I had the opportunity to speak at length about this case with Elizabeth Denham, then UK Information Commissioner (ICO), who investigated it. She conveyed to me her deep concern about the enormous electoral influence that social media platforms could have. This ruling confirms it: data protection is not merely a technical or consumer matter. It is a civil and political right that safeguards our personal and collective integrity against manipulation and control. We are our data. When they are exploited—especially our fears and aspirations, as happened here—the result is the mass manipulation of people's behavior. That is why Chile's new data protection law is so important. Delays are not neutral: they leave a fundamental right unprotected.
Marcelo Drago
Lawyer
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Data protection
Meta
Protection of integrity