Facebook
is in deep trouble over new revelations of how the personal data of 50 million
users was accessed and used in the runup to the 2016 election. [Vox / Zeeshan
Aleem]
The
problems for Facebook started when the New York Times and the UK Observer
published reports this weekend revealing that Cambridge Analytica collected the
data of tens of millions of users without their permission. [NYT / Matthew
Rosenberg, Nicholas Confessore, and Carole Cadwalladr]
The
analytics firm is owned by conservative hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer,
and at the time of the data leak, it was headed by Trump’s key adviser Steve
Bannon. [UK Observer / Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison]
Whistleblower
Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge Analytica, characterized the data
leak as a bid to use a massive amount of Facebook data to target political ads
and posts to users, to “exploit what we knew about them and target their inner
demons.” [UK Observer / Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison]
That’s
all the more interesting because Trump’s 2016 campaign used Cambridge Analytica,
paying them $5.9 million. (Ted Cruz’s campaign used the firm as well.) [Vox /
Emily Stewart]
What
Wylie is saying is that Mercer, Bannon, and other right-wing figures were using
data to essentially wage a new “culture war” online, targeting people’s fears in
campaigns. [Guardian / Carol Cadwalladr]
It’s
important to note that this wasn’t a hack. And the news about the Facebook data
breach isn’t really news; it’s been around for years. [Vox / Aja Romano]
But
with the political implications of what the firm was able to do with the data,
lawmakers in the US and the EU are furious and are calling for further
investigations. [Vox / Zeeshan Aleem]
Beyond
the question of what this means for our data, there are huge implications for
Facebook’s business. The company’s stock took a nosedive amid the recent
reports. [Vox / Emily Stewart]
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