Alex Kogan, the Cambridge Analytica researcher behind the sharing of millions of Facebook users’ information, said Monday that Facebook’s attacks on him are a distraction from the reality that such activities were “normal practice back then.”
“In my opinion, it’s PR spin,” Kogan told “Today” when asked about Facebook’s accusations that he was a “fraud” and a “liar.” “They’re trying to distract people from realizing that what we did was the normal practice back then. … A lot of other developers collected way more data.”
“I think they’re trying to distract people from realizing that what we did was the normal practice back then… A lot of other developers collected way more data.” Cambridge Analytica researcher Alex Kogan in response to Facebook calling him a fraud and liar pic.twitter.com/ojHcdtI0o6
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 23, 2018
Kogan also said he had a close relationship with Facebook and had much to lose if he made them upset, so he would never undergo a project that he knew would upset the tech giant.
The Cambridge Analytica researcher said almost every Facebook users’ data has been collected many times over, and Facebook can’t account for where the information is now.
“The reality is probably every user, or nearly every user, has been collected many, many times by many companies, and Facebook has no accounting for where that data is today,” Kogan said.
“The reality is probably every user, or nearly every user, has been collected many, many times by many companies, and Facebook has no accounting for where that data is today.” -Cambridge Analytica researcher Alex Kogan pic.twitter.com/fUrkEU0Uo9
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 23, 2018
Kogan is set to appear before Congress this week. He has maintained that he followed the rules that were in place by Facebook when he collected, then shared, millions of users’ personal information with Cambridge Analytica.
