Focus on Facebook over data loss
Analytics boss suspended, heat on Zuckerberg
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 unsavoury services to an undercover reporter for Britain’s Channel 4 News.
Channel 4 News broadcast clips yesterday that also show Nix saying his data-mining firm played a major role in securing Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 United States 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, which paid Cambridge Analytica US$6 million ($8.3m), has said it didn’t use the company’s data.
Facebook also drew continued criticism for its alleged inaction to protect users’ privacy. The chairman of Britain’s 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 CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify.
Leading Democrats in the US Senate also called on Zuckerberg to testify. Facebook, however, sidestepped questions on whether Zuckerberg would appear, saying instead that it’s currently focused on conducting its own reviews.
The request to appear comes as Britain’s information commissioner said she was using all her legal powers to investigate the socialmedia giant and Cambridge Analytica. Commissioner Elizabeth Denham 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.
“Our advice to Facebook is to back away and let us go in and do our work,” she said.
Britain’s Channel 4 shone a light on Nix and Cambridge Analytica, using an undercover investigation to record Nix saying that the company could use unorthodox methods to wage successful political campaigns for clients.
In footage it released on Tuesday, Nix told undercover reporters that the company could “send some girls” around to a rival candidate’s house, suggesting that girls from Ukraine are beautiful and effective in this role.
He also said the company could “offer a large amount of money” to a rival candidate and have the whole exchange recorded so it could be posted on the internet to show that the candidate was corrupt.
Nix says in a statement that he deeply regrets his role in the meeting and has apologised to staff.