Lawmakers want to probe Facebook’s huge new data scandal

The social network’s latest controversy could become a big legal headache.

Backstory: Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica from its network on Friday for failing to delete data about 270,000 people, acquired from an academic study. Then, on Saturday, the New York Times and the Observer reported that Cambridge Analytica actually had data on over 50 million people because social ties of the original 270,000 were tapped, seemingly without permission.

Facebook says: “People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked.”