Facebook locks out data analytics firm from Trump election campaign
Facebook has blocked the data analytics firm that is said to have played a key role in Donald Trump's election victory. Despite earlier assurances, Cambridge Analytica reportedly failed to delete data on Facebook users collected through 2015.
This is what the online network said in justification. Cambridge Analytica is said to have played a decisive role in helping the Trump campaign to mobilize its supporters with targeted messages on Facebook that were placed as advertisements, and at the same time to dissuade potential voters of the opposing candidate Hillary Clinton from voting.
However, there are different statements about the extent of data access. The New York Times reported over the weekend, citing former Cambridge Analytica employees, that the firm had gained access to data on more than 50 million Facebook members without their consent.
Facebook's explanations show that for the absolute majority of these users, however, only basic profile information was accessible.
Data passed
However, according to Facebook, Cambridge Analytica obtained in-depth knowledge about people who filled out a survey app that had been downloaded 270,000 times. The seemingly harmless survey called "thisisyoudigitallife" promised users a personality test.
Its initiator, Professor Alexandr Kogan of Cambridge University, had received permission from users to access their information. But then Kogan "lied to us" and passed on data to Cambridge Analytica and SCL, as well as data analyst Christopher Wylie, Facebook explained.
In addition to the information of users who directly participated in the survey, the app was given limited access to profile data of their Facebook friends who have correspondingly relaxed privacy settings, the online network explained.
This is often common in such cases with online platforms and could explain the number of millions of members affected. However, it would be significantly less valuable information. For its part, Facebook did not provide any information on the total number of affected users. (SDA)
Other dimension
Christopher Wylie, 28, is now acting as a whistleblower and disclosed information about the collaboration with Cambridge Analytica to, among others, the New York Times and the British newspaper Guardian open.
Wylie's documents reveal an even deeper involvement of Cambridge Analytica in the election campaign than previously known: For example, the company had offered Wikileaks help in disseminating Hillary Clinton's stolen emails.
They had been stolen by Russian hackers, according to findings by Western security agencies, and their release helped Trump win the U.S. presidential election in November 2016.
