Cambridge Analytica
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Here's how to claim your cut of Meta's $725 million Cambridge Analytica class action settlement
If you used Facebook between May 2007 and December 2022 and lived in the US during that time, you’re eligible to get cash from the settlement.
Meta settles Cambridge Analytica class-action lawsuit for $725 million
Fallout from Facebook's Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal continues over four years after it was first exposed.
SEC deposition shows Zuckerberg misled Congress about Cambridge Analytica timeline
Mark Zuckerberg misled the American public about how early he knew about the threat Cambridge Analytica posed to Facebook user privacy, according to newly published SEC documents.
DC Attorney General sues Mark Zuckerberg over the Cambridge Analytica scandal
Karl Racine accused the Meta CEO of violating consumer protection rules.
Facebook is making it easier for researchers to study fringe groups
Facebook is making it easier for researchers to study its platform, including fringe groups and other “non-mainstream” movements, with a new Researcher API.
After Math: Tesla goes budget and California has gas car ban plans
This week we saw Amazon roll out a bunch of next-generation Big Brother gear, including dash cams and an indoor camera-copter, in an ongoing effort to normalize its all-encompassing, inescapable surveillance schemes. The UK announced this week that it has put the disgraced former CEO of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, in businessman time out until 2027. Elon “Im going to put a chip in your head” Musk has never been one to shy away from making grandiose forward looking statements but if he can keep his word from this year’s battery day — the one about being able to build batteries at half the current cost per kWh and usher in the era of $25,000 electric cars within tree years.
Ousted Cambridge Analytica CEO can't run another company for seven years
Cambridge Analytica’s former CEO has been banned from running another company in the United Kingdom for seven years.
Facebook shared user data with developers it shouldn't have — again
At least 5,000 developers received data from 'inactive' users, according to Facebook.
Facebook will share new independent privacy reports with the FTC
Facebook is continuing its transparency push.
Facebook exec says the company should stay the course for elections
In a newly leaked memo published by the New York Times, one of Mark Zuckerberg's closest confidants at Facebook argues the company has a "moral" duty to not tip the scales against President Donald Trump in the upcoming election. The post, titled "Thoughts for 2020," was penned by Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, the head of the company's virtual and augmented reality division. In it, he says Facebook shouldn't use the tools at its disposal against the president, using a scene from the Lord of the Rings to justify his rationale.
Brazil hits Facebook with $1.6 million Cambridge Analytica fine
The Cambridge Analytica data scandal may have come to light nearly two years ago, but the former company -- and as a result, Facebook -- is still feeling the effects of the fall out. Brazil's government has imposed a $1.6 million fine on Facebook for its role in the fiasco -- a considerably higher sum than the $644,000 fined by the UK, where the incident took place.
Some apps used Twitter and Facebook logins to steal personal information
If you've used your Twitter or Facebook account to log in to another app on your phone, some of your personal information could have been accessed by shady developers. On Monday, Twitter published a notice on its website that says that some third-party developers may have used a software development kit called oneAudience to obtain your email, username and last tweet and shared it with the company that created the tool. Facebook says it too had fallen victim to the oneAudience scam and plans to issue a similar notice to its users later today.
Facebook subpoena refusal forces California to make its privacy probe public
For the first time, California's State Attorney General has admitted that his office has been investigating Facebook's privacy dealings over the past 18 months -- and we wouldn't even have known if the social network had just complied with his requests. Attorney General Xavier Becerra has revealed in new court documents that Facebook failed to comply with subpoenas asking for more information related to the Cambridge Analytica fiasco.
Facebook agrees to pay the UK £500K for the Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook may be looking ahead to the 2020 election, but it's still sweeping up debris from 2016. Today, Facebook agreed to pay the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) £500,000 (about $644,000) for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. As part of the deal, Facebook will not admit to any wrongdoing.
Recommended Reading: How memes became political weapons
How memes got weaponized: A short history Joan Donovan, MIT Technology Review Memes are entertaining, but they've also become key weapons in politics and the spread of misinformation. This piece starts with just one of many insane stories: "In October 2016, a friend of mine learned that one of his wedding photos had made its way into a post on a right-wing message board," Donovan writes. "The picture had been doctored to look like an ad for Hillary Clinton's campaign, and appeared to endorse the idea of drafting women into the military."
Recommended Reading: The ICE surveillance playbook
How ICE picks its targets in the surveillance age McKenzie Funk, The New York Times Through the lens of officers operating in the Pacific Northwest, The New York Times explains how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) collects information on possible targets. That includes monitoring social media accounts and tapping into "the world's largest privately run database of license-plate scans."
Facebook suspends tens of thousands of data-scraping apps
In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook promised to investigate other apps with access to large amounts of user data. The app developer investigation is ongoing, but today, Facebook said it has reviewed millions of apps and suspended tens of thousands associated with about 400 developers.
Today was Facebook's worst day ever, and it won’t make a difference
Facebook has had a lot of bad days since the Cambridge Analytica data scandal first erupted in March 2018. But today might be the worst: The FTC formally announced its $5 billion fine as well as a 20-year settlement order that dictates a new management structure, the creation of an independent privacy committee and new rules about how it must monitor and report potential privacy issues. The company was also separately fined $100 million by the SEC and announced it discovered that some of its partners (including Microsoft and Sony) still had access to Facebook user data after it was supposed to have closed it off late last year. Coincidentally, a documentary on Facebook's misdeeds called The Great Hack is hitting Netflix today, bringing even more negative attention on the company. Meanwhile, CEO Mark Zuckerberg will have to answer to investors this evening after the company releases its quarterly earnings report. And you know what? This isn't going to change a thing.
Facebook to pay separate $100 million SEC fine over Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook isn't just settling with the FTC over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The social network has also agreed to pay the US Securities and Exchange Commission $100 million over charges of making "misleading disclosures" over the risk of abusing users' data. The SEC alleged that Facebook knew about the data breach in 2015, but continued to describe possible data breaches to investors in purely "hypothetical" terms. It also didn't have "specific policies or procedures" in effect to make accurate disclosures in light of the results of the investigation.
Facebook will pay $5 billion fine for Cambridge Analytica data breaches
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Facebook will pay a massive fine in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The social network will pay $5 billion to settle the charge that it broke a 2012 FTC order concerning the privacy of user data. And, as part of the settlement, Facebook has had to agree to a new management structure and new rules about how it manages user data.
