Facebook announced Friday that it will be suspending Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics firm which worked worked for President Trump’s campaign, from the social media platform after it was revealed the firm did not delete data it had improperly obtained from Facebook users.
Accounts of Cambridge Analytica’s parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories, and those of a University of Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, and Eunoia Technologies, Inc.’s Christopher Wylie were also suspended.
“We are suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), including their political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, from Facebook,” Facebook said in a statement Friday evening.
Kogan, who had created the “thisisyourdigitallife” app, requested that he obtain access to information from 270,000 Facebook users after they downloaded his app. Facebook approved his request and as a result, Facebook users provided their consent for Kogan to receive information from their profiles, including the city set on their profiles and content they had liked.
In violation of Facebook’s policies, Kogan shared the information with Cambridge and Wylie.
Facebook became aware of this conduct in 2015 and removed the app in response. Additionally, they requested that certifications from Kogan and all who had received data be provided to ensure that the data was destroyed. Kogan, Cambridge, and Wiley indicated they complied, but Facebook said in recent days it received reports suggesting that not all the data was deleted.
“Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data was deleted,” Facebook said. “We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims. If true, this is another unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments they made. We are suspending SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Wylie and Kogan from Facebook, pending further information.”
“We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information,” Facebook added. “We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens. We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller asked Cambridge Analytica last fall to surrender emails from any of its employees who worked for the Trump campaign, the Wall Street Journal reported in December. The firm complied to the request.
Mueller’s team is conducting an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and is looking into whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
