Xavier Becerra Xavier Becerra, attorney general of California, 2017. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is seeking a court order to force Facebook to hand over documents as part of an investigation into whether the company violated state privacy laws by sharing user data with third parties.

Lawyers from Becerra's office on Wednesday filed a petition in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to get the company to respond to requests for documents about the company's policies and actions regarding third-party access to user data that date back to June 2018.

Becerra said that he has fielded many questions about California's response to Facebook's alleged privacy infractions in recent months.

"My response, to your chagrin, is always the same: We make our work public when there is a legal action to make public," he said in a press conference Monday morning. "If Facebook had complied with our legitimate legal requests, we would not be making an announcement."

The attorney general called Facebook's response to its inquiries "patently inadequate." Wednesday's petition claims the social media giant has remained silent on the agency's June 2019 request for answers to 19 interrogatories, six documents requests and communications from senior executives including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg.

When asked why California decided to go it alone in its investigation into Facebook's procedures around user privacy, disclosures and third-party access to user data, Bercerra said, "How do you know we are not teaming up with others?"

Right now, Becerra said, keeping California's tech companies honest when it comes to privacy is "tough," forcing the Department of Justice to adapt consumer protection and general privacy laws. However, when the California Consumer Privacy Act takes effect Jan. 1, it will be a "watershed moment," the attorney general said.

To make the law as effective as possible, California is hosting hearings for public comment in Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles between Dec. 2-5.

Becerra called the law one of the only ways "to hold tech companies accountable."

"We want to make sure we're getting these rules right," he said. "This is a conversation about your data and your privacy."

Exhibits attached to Wednesday's petition indicate that lawyers at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, including partner Benjamin Powell and senior associate Maury Riggan in Washington, D.C., have been representing Facebook in the state's investigation.

Facebook representatives didn't immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday.

The attorney general's office first began its inquiry with subpoenas in June 2018. Facebook waited a full year to reply.

The attorney general's action adds to the company's complicated legal fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. At a hearing earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California suggested possibly forcing Facebook to hand over documents provided to U.S. regulators to lawyers pursuing privacy claims against the company in multidistrict litigation he's overseeing.

"We will act when we must," Becerra said. "Today we make this information public, because we have no choice."

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