Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued the following statement regarding a recent report indicating that Facebook siphoned personal information of students and parents from the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid (FSA) website:
“No matter the day, week, or month, the Department of Education continues to prove that incompetence is the only standard it adheres to. Allowing Facebook to reap unfettered access to the sensitive information of students and parents through a website managed by FSA takes the Department’s level of negligence to even greater heights-especially when considering that there was no monitoring of where this data was being funneled to in the first place.
“This is the kind of malfeasance that would run rampant if the College Transparency Act, were to be passed. This bill would allow the Biden administration to create a data system that will track all students pursuing a postsecondary degree-or graduate-for years into the future without their consent or any ability to opt-out of such a system even if they don’t accept federal aid. Blatant government overreach such as this only breeds more incompetence that puts the personal information of students within the crosshairs of bad actors."
Background: The House Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will be asking the Department of Education for a briefing on Facebook’s involvement in obtaining personal information of students and parents who filled out FAFSA forms on the website managed by FSA.
