London, Mar 21 : The head of Trump-affiliated data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica has been suspended, while government authorities are bearing down on both the firm and Facebook over allegations the firm stole data from 50 million Facebook users to manipulate elections.
Cambridge’s board of directors suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending an investigation after Nix boasted of various unsavory services to an undercover reporter for Britain’s Channel 4 News.
Channel 4 News broadcast clips yesterday that also show Nix saying his data-mining firm played a major role in securing Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential elections.
Nix said the firm handled “all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting” and said Cambridge used emails with a “self-destruct timer” to make its role more difficult to trace.
“There’s no evidence, there’s no paper trail, there’s nothing,” he said.
In a statement, Cambridge’s board said Nix’s comments “do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation.”
Cambridge has denied wrongdoing, and Trump’s campaign has said it didn’t use Cambridge’s data.
Alexandr Kogan, the Cambridge University researcher who developed the app used by Cambridge Analytica to harvest data from millions of Facebook users, claimed today he has been made a scapegoat.
He told BBC he believed all the information he provided was obtained legitimately. He said it was Cambridge Analytica that came to him.
“They approached me. In terms of the usage of Facebook data they wrote the terms of service for the app, they provided the legal advice that this was all appropriate,” he said.
Kogan admitted he did not ask enough questions about the data use and did not have a lawyer review the agreement.
Facebook also drew continued criticism for its alleged inaction to protect users’ privacy.
Yesterday, the chairman of the UK parliamentary media committee, Damian Collins, said his group has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data. He said Facebook officials “have been misleading to the committee.”
The committee summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify.
“It is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process,” Collins wrote Zuckerberg.
“Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to ‘fixing’ Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said she is pursuing a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica’s servers. She has also asked Facebook to cease its own audit of Cambridge Analytica’s data use.
Cambridge Analytica said it is committed to helping the UK investigation. However, Denham’s office said the firm failed to meet a deadline to produce the information requested.
Denham said the prime allegation against Cambridge Analytica is that it acquired personal data in an unauthorized way, adding that the data provisions act requires services like Facebook to have strong safeguards against misuse of data.
Leading Democrats in the US Senate also called on Zuckerberg to testify.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Facebook’s latest privacy scandal a “danger signal.”
She wants Zuckerberg’s assurances that Facebook is prepared to take the lead on security measures that protect people’s privacy or Congress may step in.
Facebook sidestepped questions on whether Zuckerberg would appear, saying instead that it’s currently focused on conducting its own reviews.
Facebook has weathered many such blow-ups before and is used to apologizing and moving on. But the stakes are bigger this time. The latest scandal has some people reconsidering their relationship status with the social network, though there isn’t much of anywhere else to go.
Chris Wylie, who once worked for Cambridge Analytica, was quoted as saying the company used the data to build psychological profiles so voters could be targeted with ads and stories.
Wylie has agreed to be interviewed by Democrats on the US House Intelligence Committee. A date has not been set, and it’s unclear if Republicans on the panel will attend.
On Tuesday, Wylie said he found Facebook’s reaction to the revelations bizarre. He told an audience at the Frontline Club in London that before the story broke, Facebook had agreed to work with him to improve its platform. But he said he was blindsided on Friday with a news release that identified him as a suspect in the case.
Cambridge Analytica found itself in further allegations of wrongdoing. Britain’s Channel 4 used an undercover investigation to record Nix saying that the company could use unorthodox methods to wage successful political campaigns for clients.
In footage released on Monday, Nix said the company could “send some girls” around to a rival candidate’s house, suggesting that girls from Ukraine are beautiful and effective in this role.
He also said the company could “offer a large amount of money” to a rival candidate and have the whole exchange recorded so it could be posted on the internet to show that the candidate was corrupt.
Nix says in a statement that he deeply regrets his role in the meeting and has apologised to staff.
