Cambridge Analytica has collected the Facebook data of 50 million users and used the data in Trump’s election campaign in the run-up to the US election. Facebook has suspended the company.
Both The New York Times and The Guardian discovered this, based on information provided by a whistleblower. Profiles were created using the data of the millions of Facebook users, predicting how these people would vote in elections, and then making targeted efforts to influence their opinions.
The information was allegedly collected in 2014, and was done without the user’s consent. The data collection was allegedly commissioned by Steve Bannon, who played a major role in Trump’s election campaign. Cambridge Analytica also provided its services during Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
Information from Facebook users was collected by means of the application thisisyourdigitallife. Although ‘only’ hundreds of thousands of users have used this app, the information from their Facebook friends was also collected, allowing the collection to grow to a database of 50 million users.
Facebook announced on Friday that it has suspended Cambridge Analytica. The social networking site said it did so because its terms were violated, but The Guardian claims Cambridge Analytica was only suspended because of plans to publish about it, something Facebook allegedly tried to stop. Facebook is said to have known about Cambridge Analytica’s practices since 2015.
In a response, Cambridge Analytica said it commissioned the company Global Science Research in 2014 to conduct a survey of Facebook users, but it would have pulled the plug when it found the survey was inconsistent. with Facebook’s terms and conditions. After that, all collected data would be deleted. Also, the data would not have been used to help Trump in his election campaign, according to Cambridge Analytica.