Zuckerberg slated over ‘harvest’

LEGISLATORS on both sides of the Atlantic criticised Facebook and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, after reports surfaced that another company, Cambridge Analytica, improperly harvested information from about 50 million Facebook users.

A British legislator accused Facebook on Sunday of misleading officials by downplaying the risk of users’ data being shared without their consent.

Conservative legislator Damian Collins, who heads the British parliament’s media committee, said he would ask Zuckerberg or another Facebook executive to appear before his panel, which is investigating disinformation and “fake news”.

Collins said Facebook had “consistently understated” the risk of data leaks and gave misleading answers to the committee.

“Someone has to take responsibility for this,” he said. “It’s time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page.”

Collins also accused the head of the UK-based data firm Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, of lying.

Nix told the committee last month that his firm had not received data from a researcher accused of obtaining millions of Facebook users’ personal information.

In Washington, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said on Twitter that Zuckerberg “needs to testify before the Senate judiciary committee”.

“This is a major breach that must be investigated,” said Klobuchar, a member of the committee. “It’s clear that these platforms can’t police themselves.”

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, echoed Klobuchar’s complaint.

“This is more evidence that the online political advertising market is essentially the Wild West,” he said. “It’s clear that, left unregulated, this market will continue to be prone to deception and lacking in transparency.”

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said on Twitter that “Massachusetts residents deserve answers” and announced that her office will investigate.

Former Cambridge Analytica employee Chris Wylie said the company had obtained information from 50 million Facebook users, using it to build psychological profiles so that voters could be targeted with adverts and stories.

Wylie told Britain’s Channel 4 news that the firm was able to amass a huge database very quickly from an app developed by an academic. – AP