‘Data industry bracing for regulation’

SAN FRANCISCO: Companies that buy and sell consumer data are preparing for increased scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers after a scandal over how social network Facebook handles personal information, Acxiom Corp´s chief executive said on Friday.

Scott Howe told Reuters in a phone interview that Acxiom, among the largest U.S. data brokers, welcomed change and supported regulation of some kind, although he stopped short of endorsing a specific plan or greater powers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the primary U.S. regulator of data privacy.

Facebook Inc, which uses personal data to sell targeted ads but does not sell data, caused an uproar last month when it said political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, whose clients have included President Donald Trump´s 2016 campaign, had wrongly harvested the information of millions of users.

Acxiom and competitors such as Experian PLC were indirectly affected by the Cambridge Analytica scandal when, shortly after it broke, Facebook said it would discontinue one of its advertising tools powered by third-party data in an effort to be more careful about privacy.

Acxiom shares plunged as much as 34 percent the day after Facebook´s announcement on March 28. They have since partially recovered.

"Facebook has done a credit to the entire industry because they brought this back out into the public spotlight," Howe said.

He said he had traveled to Washington to meet regulators and would continue to do so, and that industry executives were speaking more frequently among themselves about regulations.