The Facebook Cambridge Analytica story is getting to a very interesting stage. A whistleblower, Christopher Wyllie, has confirmed that Cambridge Analytica was able to download facebook relating to 50 million Facebook users most of who had no idea theie data was being harvested. It was then used to micro target advertising, either to trigger support for the republicans through scratching prejudices or to suppress liberal turn out the vote campaigns. Its campaign is credited by some with getting Donald Trump elected.
Here is Wyllie explaining what occurred.
This 4 News film provides a fascinating insight into CA’s modus operandii.
The links to CA and the Republican Party are strong. It was essentially Reoublican run and Republican funded.
The repercussions are snowballing. Facebook is being asked in the UK to explain how it could let this happen. From the Guardian:
MPs have summoned Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a select committee investigating fake news and accused his company of misleading them at a previous hearing.
The Facebook founder has been called to give evidence to the digital, culture, media and sport committee, following revelations over the use of its data by the election consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
The company has also come under the spotlight in the US, after an investigation by the Observer, Channel 4 News and the New York Times revealed that 50m user profiles had been accessed and harvested for data.
In a letter to Zuckerberg, the committee’s chair, Damian Collins, wrote that Facebook had been repeatedly asked about how companies acquired and held on to user data from its site, and whether data had been taken without users’ consent.
“Your officials’ answers have consistently understated this risk and have been misleading to the committee,” he wrote. “It is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process … Given your commitment at the start of the new year to ‘fixing’ Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you.”
The committee said Facebook had failed to provide follow-up evidence after the last hearing, and that this week’s revelations had raised new questions for the inquiry. On Wednesday it will take evidence from a former Facebook operations manager, Sandy Parakilas.
And it is also facing an inquiry in the United States. From Radio New Zealand:
The US Federal Trade Commission is reported to be investigating Facebook after allegations 50 million users’ private information was misused by Cambridge Analytica.
Whistleblower Christopher Wylie, who helped set up the firm, has claimed it amassed the data of about 50 million users through a personality quiz on Facebook then deliver tailored material to get them to vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 US election.
Facebook is due to face the US Congress on Wednesday as pressure grows. Its stock has continued to slide, falling 3 percent on Tuesday following a 6.7 percent drop on Monday which wiped almost $37bn from its market value.
Both the British Parliament and the European Parliament have also called on Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence to them.
Cambridge Analytica, which is based in London, denies any wrongdoing.
The FTC, an independent agency of the US government, is tasked with protecting American consumers.
Facebook has only last week banned Cambridge Analytica from Facebook. Last week …
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