Two Republican candidates used Cambridge Analytica data firm
Two Republicans running in competitive California congressional races contracted with Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm embroiled in controversy over its use of improperly obtained personal information from more than 50 million Facebook users.
Bob Huff, a former state senator and Republican minority leader who’s hoping to replace retiring Republican Rep. Ed Royce, signed a contract with the firm for work on his congressional race and paid a $10,027 deposit just last month. He said in an interview that he had cancelled the contract Tuesday after first learning about the scandal. Huff also spent more than $37,000 on the firm’s services during a separate political campaign in 2016.
Rep. Mimi Walters, a Republican congresswoman representing Orange County, also paid the firm $20,000 for “voter data for media ads” during her reelection campaign in August 2016, according to federal campaign finance records. Her spokesman was not available for comment Wednesday afternoon. Walters is facing a competitive
“Like anybody that is concerned about personal privacy, that’s of grave concern for me.” — Bob Huff, former state senator
re-election campaign against several well-funded Democratic challengers.
Cambridge Analytica, which also worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 bid for president, used the personal information of millions of users who never gave their permission to help campaigns more effectively target voters. The data breach is considered to be one of the largest in Facebook’s history.
Huff said he had no idea that the firm used improperly obtained data.
“Like anybody that is concerned about personal privacy, that’s of grave concern for me,” he said. “I think they absolutely should be investigated.”
The firm’s data was harvested by a University of Cambridge researcher who started a Facebook personality quiz app in 2014. The app collected information from about 270,000 people who downloaded it and gave their consent — but it also raked in data from their friends, who did not give their permission. The researcher gave the data to Cambridge Analytica, which was founded by right-wing strategist Stephen Bannon and Republican donor Robert Mercer, in violation of Facebook’s terms of service.
Huff first worked with the firm during his unsuccessful 2016 campaign for Los Angeles County supervisor, paying them $37,530 in April and May 2016, according to state campaign finance records. He said he contracted with them after hearing about their work for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign.
“I didn’t think to ask where their data came from,” Huff said. “I certainly will in the future.”
The firm used their reams of personal data to make predictions about voters and then tailor Facebook ads to their specific personalities and preferences. For example, Huff said, Cambridge helped his campaign produce ads targeting people who were predicted to be off-road vehicle enthusiasts and telling them that Huff had a record of supporting off-road vehicles.
It’s hard to quantify what impact the firm had on Huff’s campaign — it was only one of many vendors the campaign used. “The whole idea in their pitch was that they could nuance the campaign to different groups,” he said. “They seemed to do OK, but some of their artwork wasn’t that impressive — we had to retool it a little bit.”
The first press reports revealing that Cambridge’s data was obtained without users’ permission were published in December 2015, but Huff said he had not seen them. News stories in the New York Times and elsewhere this weekend revealed the full extent of the firm’s actions.
On Tuesday, Cambridge suspended its CEO, Alexander Nix, and hired an independent lawyer to conduct an inquiry. The data breach is also under investigation by authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom. Facebook’s stock has dropped precipitously following the scandal, and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that the social media giant would take new steps to protect user data.
Huff lost his 2016 primary for supervisor. Earlier this year, he jumped into the race for the 39th congressional district, which spans parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. The race, which has attracted more than a dozen candidates, is seen as one of the most competitive House contests in the country.
Cambridge signed a contract to work on Huff’s congressional campaign on Feb. 20, and he sent them the deposit on Mar. 9, he said. He terminated the contract on Mar. 20, before the firm had produced any ads for his congressional run. “We’re working on” getting the deposit back, he said.
Huff said he had worked with the firm in an attempt to keep up with quickly changing technology — but now regrets doing so.
“Fewer people get their information from print media, so campaigns have to evolve as well,” Huff said. “Campaigns always want to be on the leading edge of tech.”