"So incredibly false and ridiculous," he wrote. "Let them say that under oath. Just an overblown sales pitch." Parscale has since been named the manager of Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.

Scrutiny of the issue is coming from the Federal Trade Commission and the attorney generals of New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The FTC is investigating whether Facebook violated terms of a 2011 consent decree with its handling of the data that was transferred to Cambridge Analytica, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Facebook is also planning a conference call with state attorneys general Thursday, according to a company spokesman in Washington, as it further tries to contain the fallout.

FTC Settlement
The FTC, which has a consumer protection mandate, reached that agreement in response to a complaint by EPIC’s Rotenberg. If the trade commission finds Facebook violated terms of the consent decree, it has the power to fine the company more than $40,000 a day per violation, which could open the door to millions of dollars in fines.

An FTC spokeswoman wouldn’t comment on whether the agency was investigating but said that it takes "any allegations of violations of our consent decrees very seriously." The people who described the FTC’s moves asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public.

Facebook has said it rejects "any suggestion of violation of the consent decree."

Without a national privacy law, it falls to attorneys general to enforce state data privacy statutes. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Tuesday that he and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey had sent a demand letter to Facebook as part of a joint probe stemming from the fallout. Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen announced his own inquiry on Monday.

European Regulators
Facebook’s mounting troubles don’t end in the U.S. European regulators, concerned with how they can "allow the data on European consumers to flow to this company" could also take action, said Rotenberg.

The chairman of a U.K. parliamentary committee announced Tuesday he was requesting that Zuckerberg appear before the panel to supplement previous testimony by the company’s executives.

Stricter European privacy rules kick in on May 25 under the General Data Protection Regulation. European Union Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said she plans to discuss the matter with Facebook during a visit in the U.S. this week. Italian telecommunications regulator Agcom also asked Facebook to provide information on its data use.