The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Facebook chief could be summoned before MPs
MP says Zuckerberg should answer claims infront of Commons committee
Mark Zuckerberg should appear before MPs and “stop hiding behind his Facebook page”, a politician has said, after it was revealed a British data firm had been suspended by the social networking site amid allegations it harvested personal details from more than 50 million users.
Damian Collins, chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, also accused the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, of “deliberately misleading” parliament and giving “false statements” to the committee following allegations it was passed personal data from Facebook apps without the consent of the individuals.
Facebook’s vice-president and deputy general counsel, Paul Grewal, said in a blog post that Cambridge University professor Dr Aleksandr Kogan had passed on information to Cambridge Analytica and others after launching a Facebook a pp called this is your digitallife.
Despite assurances at the time this was discovered in 2015 that the data had been destroyed, the social media company was informed in recent days that this had not happened, prompting the suspension of the firm on suspicion it had flouted privacy rules.
Whistleblower Chris Wylie, a former research director at Cambridge Analytica, told Channel 4 News a so-called data grab had been carried out on more than 50 million profiles in 2014.
Dr Kogan is alleged to have been involved in this, using his company called Global Science Research (GSR) to accrue information.
Mr Collins said Mr Nix had denied to the committee that his company had received any data from GSR, adding: “From the evidence that has been published by The Guardian and The Observer this weekend, it seems clear that he has deliberately misled the committee and parliament by giving false statements.
“We will be contacting Alexander Nix next week asking him to explain his comments and answer further questions relating to the links between GSR and Cambridge Analytica, and its associate companies.”
Mr Collins also said the committee had “repeatedly asked” Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from the site, and whether information had been taken from people without their consent.
“Their answers have consistently understated this risk and have also been misleading to the committee,” he said.
“I will be writing to Mark Zuckerberg asking that either he, or another senior executive from the company, appear to give evidence in front of the committee as part our inquiry.”
Cambridge Analytica played a key role in mapping out the behaviour of voters in the run-up to the 2016 US election and was also used during the EU referendum campaign earlier that year.
In a response to its suspension from Facebook, Cambridge Analytica said it fully complied with Facebook’s terms of services.