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Facebook board member may have met Cambridge Analytica whistleblower in 2016 (updated)
Facebook has never said when its execs learned about Cambridge Analytica's misuse of data, but The Guardian might have some insights. Its sources claim Facebook board member Marc Andreessen met Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie back in the summer of 2016, well before the scandal became public. Reportedly, the meeting in Andreessen's office was established to understand just how Cambridge Analytica was using the data and how Facebook could solve it. It's not clear who else was present, but the discussion apparently included Cambridge Analytica's "contacts with Russian entities."
Cambridge Analytica used fashion tastes to profile Facebook users
The Cambridge Analytica scandal blew the lid off Facebook's haphazard handling of user data earlier this year. More than eight months have passed since it came to light and we're still gleaning more info about the ways the now-defunct company -- with ties to Steve Bannon -- used the harvested data of some 87 million Facebook users for political purposes. One of its methods was "fashion profiling," according to Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Christopher Wylie.
Whistleblower: Cambridge Analytica couldn’t work with Democrats
Although Cambridge Analytica (CA) is preparing to shut down, US Congress isn't done trying to get answers about the firm's tactics to harvest online user data for political research. Today, in the latest chapter of a matter that has affected up to 87 million Facebook users, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding another hearing, titled "Cambridge Analytica and the Future of Data Privacy." One of the people testifying before the panel of senators is none other than whistleblower Christopher Wylie, the former director of research at CA who helped break the story earlier this year. In written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Wylie said that what he bore witness to during his time at CA, between 2013 and 2014, should alarm everyone.
Cambridge Analytica tries to shoot down Facebook data sharing claims
Cambridge Analytica is facing incredible pressure over the Facebook data sharing scandal -- and not surprisingly, it's determined to share its version of events before Mark Zuckerberg testifies in congressional hearings. The company has posted a "series of facts" that challenge some of the allegations made against the company. Not surprisingly, it started by insisting that it didn't do anything illegal: GSR "legally obtained" the data about Facebook users, and "did not illegally or inappropriately" scoop up and share data. Later on, it maintained that it "only collects data with informed consent."
Let’s stop pretending Facebook cares
The really great thing to come out of the Cambridge Analytica scandal is that Facebook will now start doing that thing we were previously assured at every turn they were doing all along. And all it took was everyone finding out about the harvesting and sale of everyone's data to right-wing zealots like Steve Bannon for political power. Not Facebook finding out because they already knew. For years. In fact, Facebook knew it so well, the company legally threatened Observer and NYT to prevent their reporting on it, to keep everyone else from finding out.
Whistleblower explains how Cambridge Analytica 'exploited' Facebook
Last night Facebook announced bans against Cambridge Analytica, its parent company and several individuals for allegedly sharing and keeping data that they had promised to delete. This data reportedly included information siphoned from hundreds of thousands of Amazon Mechanical Turkers who were paid to use a "personality prediction app" that collected data from them and also anyone they were friends with -- about 50 million accounts. That data reportedly turned into information used by the likes of Robert Mercer, Steve Bannon and the Donald Trump campaign for social media messaging and "micro-targeting" individuals based on shared characteristics. Now, reports by The New York Times and The Guardian reveal what was behind the timing of that Friday night news dump. According to reporters from both outlets, which were collaborating, the social network had downplayed their reporting and even threatened to sue The Guardian, over what they learned from documents and a whistleblower (who Facebook included in its ban list): Christopher Wylie.
Facebook suspends Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica (update: response)
Late Friday night, Facebook has announced it's suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) from its site. While you may not have heard of SCL, its political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica has made headlines in the last few years due to work for the Trump campaign and the Brexit initiative. According to former US Magistrate and current Facebook Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal, this move is occurring because an app "thisisyourdigitallife" pulled in personal information of the 270,000 people who used it as well as information from their friends. While this is allowed under its policy, its creator -- a Cambridge psych professor named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan -- passed the data onto other parties including Cambridge Analytica.
