First case filed over data disclosure
Zuckerberg plans to break days of silence about his company’s mounting crisis
AFacebook Inc. user sued the social network and a data research firm that played a role in the election of President Donald Trump alleging that her privacy was violated when information on some 50 million users was improperly disclosed.
Lauren Price, of Maryland, sued the companies in San Jose, California, federal court on behalf of other US Facebook users whose data Cambridge Analytica obtained.
The lawsuit is the latest development in a wave of backlash against the social media company over ways in which its platform was used to influence the 2016 election. Revelations about Cambridge Analytica’s access to information on the users follows on heels of controversies over the proliferation of “fake news” and Russian propaganda through the site.
Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to break days of silence about his company’s mounting crisis as Washington demands answers over how the personal data of millions of his company’s users could be exploited by a consulting firm linked to Trump.
Amid bipartisan calls for him to testify before Congress and scrutiny by the main US privacy regulator and state attorneys general, Zuckerberg plans to speak publicly probably today in an effort to regain trust in the company, according to a person familiar with the plans.
Facebook saw its stock value plummet by $60 billion since the revelations emerged.
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.”
Alexandr Kogan | Cambridge University researcher
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 Tuesday that also show Nix saying his data-mining firm played a major role in securing Trump’s victory in 2016 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 yesterday 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.
‘Misleading’
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.