Cambridge Analytica and the Harvesting of Personal Facebook Data

Dec 23, 2022:

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3786445-meta-agrees-to-725m-settlement-in-cambridge-analytica-case

Jul 2, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/395269-new-agencies-join-facebook-cambridge-analytica-investigation-expand-scope

Jun 6, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/391051-former-cambridge-analytica-chief-admits-firm-got-facebook-data-from

May 2, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/385881-cambridge-analytica-shutting-down-report

Apr 11, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/382745-five-takeaways-from-zuckerbergs-testimony

Apr 10, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/382587-zuckerberg-holds-his-own-in-round-one-of-testimony
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/382462-facebook-cambridge-analytica-hit-with-class-action-lawsuit

Apr 9, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/382260-facebook-launches-project-to-study-social-medias-impact-on-elections
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/382272-read-mark-zuckerbergs-prepared-testimony-to-house-panel

Apr 6, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/381988-zuckerberg-announces-new-facebook-measures-to-improve-political-ad
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/381990-zuckerberg-announces-support-for-regulating-political-ads-on-social-media

Apr 5, 2018:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/sheryl-sandberg-facebook-made-big-mistakes-on-protecting-user-data

Apr 4, 2018:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43649018

Mar 28, 2018:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/28/597587830/criticism-prompts-facebook-to-change-privacy-controls

Mar 27, 2018:

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/27/technology/mark-zuckerberg-testify-congress-facebook/index.html
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/380396-zuckerberg-will-send-top-facebook-officials-instead-of-facing-uk-lawmakers
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/27/597279596/they-don-t-care-whistleblower-says-cambridge-analytica-seeks-to-undermine-democr
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/18/facebook-may-have-violated-ftc-privacy-deal-say-former-federal-officials-triggering-risk-of-massive-fines
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2011/11/facebook-settles-ftc-charges-it-deceived-consumers-failing-keep

Mar 26, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/380276-ftc-confirms-investigation-into-facebook
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/380298-cook-county-sues-facebook-cambridge-analytica-over-data-breach
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/380280-facebook-stock-falls-6-percent-after-ftc-announces-probe

Mar 25, 2018:

http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-newspaper-ads-apologize-for-cambridge-analytica-scandal-2018-3
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/380200-zuckerberg-uses-full-page-nyt-ad-to-pledge-facebooks-responsibility
http://time.com/money/5213181/mark-zuckerberg-lost-10-billion-in-one-week-after-facebooks-privacy-scandal/

Mar 23, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/379953-top-senate-republican-calls-on-mark-zuckerberg-to-testify

Mar 22, 2018:

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/379751-house-energy-and-commerce-chairman-calls-for-zuckerberg-to-testify
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-22/zuckerberg-s-response-doesn-t-cut-it-facebook-s-critics-say

Mar 21, 2018:

Mar 20, 2018:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/20/facebook-data-cambridge-analytica-sandy-parakilas
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/379280-cruz-says-cambridge-analytica-claimed-practices-were-legitimate
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/379370-cambridge-analytica-ceo-suspended-by-board-following-undercover-video

The value of Facebook stock dropped about $13 billion, about 3% of its total value.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/news/companies/facebook-stock-price-mark-zuckerberg/index.html

Mar 19, 2018:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/20/595124809/u-k-seeks-search-warrant-on-cambridge-analytica-ceo-seen-in-hidden-camera-report
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/hidden-camera-shows-cambridge-analytica-pitching-tricky-tactics-n857936
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/379152-trumps-campaign-data-firm-filmed-saying-they-use-bribes-and-sex-workers-to
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/19/cambridge-analytica-execs-boast-dirty-tricks-honey-traps-elections
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/18/what-is-cambridge-analytica-firm-at-centre-of-facebook-data-breach
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/379209-cambridge-analytica-five-things-to-watch

The value of Facebook stock dropped $37 billion, about 7% of its total value.

Mar 17, 2018:

Cambridge Analytica is a London-based data analytics company which is an offshoot of SCL Group.

The home page of Cambridge Analytica's website says:

Data drives all we do. Cambridge Analytica uses data to change audience behavior. Visit our Commercial or Political divisions to see how we can help you.

According to a "whistleblower" named Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica:

...used personal information taken without authorisation in early 2014 to build a system that could profile individual US voters, in order to target them with personalised political advertisements.

The personal information was harvested from Facebook and it amounts to approximately 50 million users.

The personal information (data) was originally collected by Christopher Wylie and Aleksandr Kogan, an academic at Cambridge University in England and owner of the company Global Science Research (GSR) in collaboration with Cambridge Analytica. The way it was designed, about 270,000 users were paid to take a personality test on Facebook. Users understood that personal data would be collected and used only for academic use. The test was designed to collect not only information for the user taking the test, but information for all the user's Facebook friends as well, resulting in a total harvest of about 50 million users.

Wylie claims that the harvested data was sold to Cambridge Analytica, which the company then used to psychologically profile users and send them pro-Trump material related to the 2016 presidential election.

At the time, the practice of harvesting Facebook friend data for purposes of selling it to another party or using it for advertising was prohibited by Facebook. Facebook said that when it learned their rules had been breached, it removed the personality test app and it demanded assurances that the harvested data had been deleted. Cambridge Analytica claims it never used the data, and says it has complied with Facebook's request to delete it. Christopher Wylie claims the data was not deleted.

Cambridge Analytica is owned by hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, and in early 2014 was headed by Trump’s key adviser Steve Bannon.

Source:

Cadwalladr, Carole; Graham-Harrison, Emma. (March 17, 2018). "Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-20.

Kleinman, Zoe. (March 29, 2018). "Cambridge Analytica: The story so far". BBC. Retrieved 2018-03-20.

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