Probe of Cambridge Analytica to go on

LONDON: After controversial firm Cambridge Analytica announced its closure on Wednesday, Britain’s information commissioner’s office (ICO) confirmed that ongoing investigations into its alleged harvesting of data from millions of Facebook users will not stop.

The company, whose activities in consulting on political campaigns in India, the US and elsewhere hit the headlines in March, is also the focus of an investigation by the UK Parliament’s committee for digital, culture, media and sport.

Committee chairman Damian Collins tweeted after the closure announcement: “Cambridge Analytica and (parent company) SCL Group cannot be allowed to delete their data history by closing. The investigations into their work are vital.”

He told BBC: “We’ve got to make sure this isn’t an attempt to run and hide, that these companies are not closing down to try to avoid them being investigated over the allegations that are being made against them.”

Collins is also set to testify via videolink as part of Canada’s investigation into Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.

An ICO spokesperson said the office is investigating SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica as part of a wider probe into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, social media companies and others.