Cambridge Analytica, a private and data mining firm, was suspended from Facebook last Friday. On Tuesday the board of directors at the data firm suspended CEO, Alexander Nix, and will conduct an independent investigation.
According to Reuters, the chief executive said during a secretly recorded video broadcast that his political consultancy had played a vital role in the 2016 presidential election.
The company's board, after announcing the suspension released a statement in light of the comments made by Nix.
"In the view of the Board, Mr.
Nix’s recent comments secretly recorded by Channel 4 and other allegations do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation."
1.Cambridge Analytica, not authorized to use Facebook user data
The announcement by the social media giant, Facebook, was the start of the story. Apparently, a psychology professor had developed a personality quiz app from over 50 million Facebook users. The suspension came as a result of passing this information to a third party, which in this case was Cambridge Analytica.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon presided over a program at Cambridge Analytica that had the objective of collecting Facebook data to create voter profiles, a former employee of the data science firm told The Washington Post https://t.co/UCWXvppCXO
— CNN (@CNN) March 21, 2018
2. Lawmakers in the US and the UK have called for an investigation
Following the news of the suspension, media reporters started to dig deeper into the gravity of the situation.
As reported by the New York Times, for Facebook this is the largest data breach in the company's history. There is evidence that this sensitive data from over 50 million users were used to influence American voters during the presidential election.
British lawmakers are moving to obtain a warrant and carry out an investigation in light of the unauthorized access Cambridge Analytica had.
In addition, this information may also contain a link to data when Britain had held its Brexit referendum.
Watch this video, then tell me that no part of you thinks that a presidential campaign knowingly using data theft on this scale to win an election warrants a re-vote. Obviously there's more to investigate, but increasingly this looks like a stolen election.https://t.co/zY82l5l8HD
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 19, 2018
3. Cambridge Analytica has complicated Facebook's reputation and privacy protections
Facebook's market stock value dropped 7 percent as media reports kept circulating the data breach.
Facebook has now hired a third party, Stroz Friedberg, to conduct an investigation. What will happen next in the organization, is they will search Cambridge's servers and systems.
Cambridge Analytica, the data firm with ties to the Trump campaign, suspended its CEO as regulators investigate its use of Facebook data https://t.co/35Lay8L6LI
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 20, 2018
4. Cambridge Analytica's area of expertise and services
CNBC reports that this British company specializes in providing consumer research, targeted advertising and other data services. They tailor their services for political and corporate clients. The company has offices in New York, Washington, London, Brazil, and Malaysia.
5. Cambridge's possible ties to Trump and Russia
The data scandal continues to mount. When the company's chief CEO Nix was asked about its connections to Russia he denied them to the British Parliament. However, the Times reports that upon examing the company's documents and interviews, dealings indeed had taken place.
Elsewhere, Robert Mercer is a known Republican donor. A former employee at Cambridge, Chris Wylie, after leaving the company confirmed Mercer's daughter Rebekah was involved in conference calls regarding the data collected from Facebook dating back in 2014.
