[izzydata]

Assuming this kind of thing is fraud how does it manage to even happen at a company as large as Facebook? Is it on accident through some reckless merging of databases or is it on purpose and they think they are just too big to care about laws? It seems like Facebook must know what the law is.

[MereInterest]

My guess would be institutional pushes against any checks on data usage. Somebody implements 2FA. Somebody reduces the number of redundant databases. Somebody implements a new marketing plan. Somebody audits their legal compliance, and finds nothing wrong because the database doesn't record the provenance of each entry.

Individuals at Facebook know the law, and may even have individual incentives to follow the law. Facebook as an emergent entity, as an inhuman eldritch being built upon humans as component parts, cares nothing for the law.

[foobarian]

Seems like a case of scraping the bottom of the barrel in a panic