Facebook struggles with Cambridge Analytica fallout
What we know about crisis tied to data use
What started with a Friday news dump has morphed into a full-blown crisis for Facebook. The social network disclosed Friday night that it suspended Cambridge Analytica after claiming it had improperly obtained information on 50 million user profiles.
Cambridge Analytica has said any data obtained through Facebook was done so “legally and fairly.”
Here’s everything we know about the brewing scandal:
On Friday, Facebook revealed the suspension of Cambridge Analytica, claiming the data firm secured information on user profiles through a personality quiz app from Global Science Research without permission. The app collected information such as hometown, content the users liked and their friends, as well as information from people’s friends.
The next morning, reports from The New York Times and The Observer of London surfaced alleging Cambridge Analytica used the data to target voters during the 2016 presidential election.
Cambridge Analytica said it complied with Facebook’s terms of service and is working to resolve the matter.
“No data from (Global Science Research) was used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign,” it said in a statement.
Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth disputed claims that the incident constituted a data breach.
“People chose to share their data with third party apps and if those third party apps did not follow the data agreements with us/users it is a violation,” he wrote on Twitter.
Facebook is already under scrutiny over the effects of Russian ads run on its platform during the 2016 election.
Cambridge Analytica was asked in December to turn over documents to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into possible Russian collusion.
Beyond Russia, the incident has raised concerns about how wellequipped Facebook is at keeping data secure from third parties.
Facebook users should check privacy settings to review which apps and services have Facebook permissions.
Lawmakers want hearings to look into what Facebook is doing to secure user data. On Twitter, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has urged CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress.