Cambridge Analytica Scandal: Difference between revisions

''The Cambridge Analytica Scandal'' involved the unauthorized harvesting of personal data from millions of Facebook users, which was then used for psychographic profiling and targeted political advertising.

|Developed the data-harvesting app and violated Facebook’s terms by sharing data with Analytica.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Meredith |first=Sam |date=10 Apr 2018 |title=Facebook-Cambridge Analytica: A timeline of the data hijacking scandal |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/facebook-cambridge-analytica-a-timeline-of-the-data-hijacking-scandal.html |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |website=CNBC}}</ref>

|Used illicitly obtained data for political micro-targeting in U.S. campaign and accused of the same in the UK campaign.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chan |first=Rosalie |date=5 Oct 2019 |title=The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower explains how the firm used Facebook data to sway elections |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-facebook-data-2019-10 |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |website=Business Insider}}</ref>

|Failed to protect user data and allowed third-party apps excessive access via APIs.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Meredith |first=Sam |date=21 Mar 2018 |title=Here’s everything you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica scandal |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/21/facebook-cambridge-analytica-scandal-everything-you-need-to-know.html |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |website=CNBC}}</ref>

:In 2013 Aleksandr Kogan, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, developed a Facebook app, ''This Is Your Digital Life'', under his company, GSR.<ref name=":2" /> The app was presented as a personality quiz and paid users to take psychological surveys. It collected their Facebook data including their friends' information due to Facebook’s permissive API policies at the time. 270,000 users directly took the quiz, accessing an estimated 87 million profiles because of Facebook’s Open Graph platform.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 30, 2020 |title=Facebook data privacy scandal: A cheat sheet |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/facebook-data-privacy-scandal-a-cheat-sheet/ |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |work=TechRepublic}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Cadwalladr |first=Carole |last2=Graham-Harrison |first2=Emma |date=March 17, 2018 |title=Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> The collected data included likes, location, birth dates, friend networks, some users' private messages, and mostly affected user's that had not used the personality quiz .<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cambridge Analytica |url=https://dig.watch/trends/cambridge-analytica |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |website=dig.watch}}</ref>

:Kogan violated Facebook’s terms by sharing the data with Analytica, a political consulting firm co-founded by Republican donor [[wikipedia:Robert_Mercer|Robert Mercer]] and led by CEO [[wikipedia:Alexander_Nix|Alexander Nix]]. Attempting to predict and influence voter behavior, Analytica used the data to build psychographic profiles based on the ''Openness Conscientious Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism'' (OCEAN) model.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Fernando |first=Jason |date=January 28, 2025 |title=Cambridge Analytica: Overview, History, and Examples |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cambridge-analytica.asp |url-status=live |access-date=25 Jun 2025 |website=investopedia}}</ref>

*Donald Trump’s 2016 Campaign: The psychographic models allegedly helped the Trump campaign identify and persuade swing voters. Although former staffer Brad Parscale had ties to Analytica, the campaign denied knowingly using improperly obtained data.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Overly |first=Steven |date=March 17, 2018 |title=Report: Trump-linked firm exploited data on 50 million Facebook users |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/17/facebook-trump-campaign-data-cambridge-analytica-423599 |work=Politico}}</ref>

*[[Mark Zuckerberg]] testified before the U.S. Congress in April 2018, acknowledging lapses in oversight.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Domonoske |first=Camilla |date=April 10, 2018 |title=Mark Zuckerberg Tells Congress: Election Security is an Arm's Race |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/10/599808766/i-m-responsible-for-what-happens-at-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-will-tell-senate |website=NPR}}</ref>

*Facebook faced a $5 billion FTC fine in 2019 for privacy violations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 24, 2019 |title=FTC Imposes $5 Billion Penalty and Sweeping New Privacy Restrictions on Facebook |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook |website=FTC}}</ref>

*Alexander Nix was suspended after uncovered footage surface.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 20, 2018 |title=Cambridge Analytica: Facebook row firm boss suspended |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43480048 |website=BBC}}</ref>