Data firm’s CEO suspended; Zuckerberg asked to testify

Cambridge's board suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending a probe after Nix boasted of various unsavory services to an undercover reporter for Britain's Channel 4 News

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 on Tuesday that also show Nix saying his datamining 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. On Tuesday, 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.