Trump-linked data analysis firm taps 50M Facebook users
Company gathered information on users without permission
WASHINGTON — A data analysis firm employed by President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign tapped the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, allowing it to capitalize on the private social media activity of a large portion of the U.S. electorate, newspapers reported Saturday.
One of the largest data leaks in Facebook history allowed Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, to develop techniques that formed the basis of its work on the Trump campaign, The New York Times and The Guardian reported.
Facebook said it suspended Cambridge Analytica over allegations that it kept the improperly obtained user data after telling Facebook it had been deleted.
Investigation underway
In a blog post, Facebook explained that Cambridge Analytica had years ago received user data from a Facebook app that purported to be a psychological research tool, though the firm was not authorized to have the information. Roughly 270,000 people downloaded and shared personal details with the app.
Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information it had received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports “several days ago” that not all the data was deleted. Facebook says it is investigating.
Facebook has also suspended the access of Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories; University of Cambridge psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan, the academic who created the app in question; and another individual, Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, who also allegedly received user data from the app. Wylie is a former Cambridge Analytics employee who has emerged as a primary source for the Times report.
Cambridge Analytica denied wrongdoing in a statement. It said the parent company’s SCL Elections unit hired Kogan to undertake “a large scale research project in the U.S.,” but subsequently deleted all data it received from Kogan’s company after learning that Kogan had obtained data in violation of Facebook policies. The firm said none of Kogan’s data was used in its 2016 election work for the “avoidance of doubt.”
Kogan did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment. Wylie could not immediately be located.
Contact with Assange
Trump’s campaign Saturday denied using the firm’s data, saying it relied on the Republican National Committee for its data.
Cambridge Analytica is backed by the family of billionaire donor Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager who also supported the Trump campaign and other conservative candidates and causes, including Bannon, the Trump campaign strategist.
Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix also disclosed last November that the company reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the campaign to request emails related to the campaign of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Nix said Assange denied the request, which came after Assange had said publicly that he had the emails. Clinton campaign emails stolen by Russian agents are one focus of the election-interference probes.