Tag Archives: Cambridge Analytica

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s campaign is bringing on an alum of the controversial data firm Cambridge Analytica, a move likely to raise alarms among Trump critics and data privacy advocates who worry the president will push the technological envelope to get reelected in 2020. Matt Oczkowski, who served as head of product at Cambridge before it went bankrupt and …

CBS News reports: Documents apparently generated by Cambridge Analytica suggest that the political consulting firm had a contractual relationship with Kenneth Braithwaite in the year before he was nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Norway in 2017. Braithwaite, who President Trump has said will be his nominee for Secretary of the Navy, made no mention of an agreement in his …

CNN reports: The fight between Facebook and the UK government’s data regulator over Cambridge Analytica has come to an end. Facebook has agreed to pay the £500,000 ($645,000) penalty imposed by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, which found the company failed to safeguard user data gathered by political data firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebook will not admit to any liability under …

CBS News reports: Facebook said it could face a fine of up to $5 billion as the result of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The agency has been investigating Facebook for possible privacy violations, but has not announced any findings yet. The company set aside $3 billion in its quarterly earnings report Wednesday as a contingency against the …

The Guardian reports: A director of the controversial data company Cambridge Analytica, who appeared with Arron Banks at the launch of the Leave.EU campaign, has been subpoenaed by the US investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. A spokesman for Brittany Kaiser, former business development director for Cambridge Analytica – which collapsed after the Observer …

CNBC reports: The Washington D.C. attorney general said Wednesday it will sue Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal on Wednesday. D.C. prosecutors said in the lawsuit that Facebook misled users in violation of the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act by allowing them to download an app produced by Cambridge Analytica which then improperly collected private information from the users without …

The Daily Beast reports: Steve Bannon found himself back in the hot seat last month as the former White House adviser answered questions from Senate intelligence committee investigators behind closed doors, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The sources said investigators asked about Cambridge Analytica, the controversial and now defunct data firm he co-founded. The committee has been …

The BBC reports: Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs’ questions. The cache of documents is alleged to contain significant revelations about Facebook decisions on data and privacy controls that led to the …

The Associated Press reports: A company run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users’ private data, has quietly been working for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election effort, The Associated Press has learned. The AP confirmed that at least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with …

From Facebook’s corporate blog: The investigation process is in full swing, and it has two phases. First, a comprehensive review to identify every app that had access to this amount of Facebook data. And second, where we have concerns, we will conduct interviews, make requests for information (RFI) — which ask a series of detailed questions about the app and …

Gizmodo reports: On Wednesday, Cambridge Analytica employees learned that its parent company, the SCL Group, was shuttering the business, with American-based workers directed to return their keycards immediately, according to documentation reviewed by Gizmodo. The news was announced during a conference call led by Julian Wheatland, the current chairman of the SCL Group who was reportedly tapped to take over …

Law & Crime reports: Cambridge Analytica is threatening legal action against journalists who report unfavorable information regarding the controversial big data-mining firm. Perhaps the embattled firm is frightened by the swelling amount of attention due to Mark Zuckerberg‘s two days worth of congressional testimony. In any event, Cambridge Analytica has shifted its denial strategy to issuing vague threats of litigation …

USA Today reports: Mark Zuckerberg says his data was exposed in the Cambridge Analytica leak. The Facebook CEO made the admission during questioning on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee was his second appearance before lawmakers in as many days. He took questions on privacy practices, foreign interference in U.S. elections and whether Facebook …

CNBC reports: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified to a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees Tuesday that Facebook is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “I know we are working with them,” Zuckerberg said during the hearing. When asked by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont about Facebook’s involvement with Mueller’s investigation, Zuckerberg confirmed the cooperation but …

CNBC reports: Mark Zuckerberg is testifying at a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees Tuesday, in the first of two congressional hearings for the Facebook founder and CEO. The company is facing questions following reports that research firm Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to the personal data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Zuckerberg is …

The Hill reports: Facebook on Tuesday officially launched a program to reward users for reporting “data abuse” on its platform. The move comes as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to testify before lawmakers on Capitol Hill amid scrutiny over the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that Facebook says improperly obtained data on potentially 87 million of its users. …

Slate reports: The House Energy and Commerce Committee released Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s prepared introductory remarks on Monday. Zuckerberg is expected to testify before the committee on Wednesday. He will also appear before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on Tuesday. Zuckerberg expresses regret for both the Russian interference and the Cambridge Analytica scandal at the beginning of his testimony: …

The Associated Press reports: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is shutting down his Facebook account as the social media giant struggles to cope with the worst privacy crisis in its history. In an email to USA Today, Wozniak says Facebook makes a lot of advertising money from personal details provided by users. He says the “profits are all based on the …

Axios reports: Christopher Wylie, the former Cambridge Analytica employee who sounded the alarm on the firm illicitly obtaining user data from Facebook, told Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd that Steve Bannon “absolutely wanted to use [the data] for Republican candidates … [and] alt-right candidates in the United States.” Wylie also said he’s been contacted by American authorities — both from …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook’s disclosure this week that its search tools were used to collect data on most of its 2.2 billion users could potentially trigger record fines and create new legal vulnerability for not having prevented risks to user data, said three former federal officials. The three former officials, all of whom were at the Federal Trade Commission …