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  • DC Attorney General Suing Mark Zuckerberg Over Cambridge Analytica

    DC Attorney General Suing Mark Zuckerberg Over Cambridge Analytica

    Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is suing Mark Zuckerberg over the Cambridge Analytica scandal in an effort to hold the CEO personally liable.

    Cambridge Analytica improperly acquired the data of tens of millions of Facebook users, resulting in one of the biggest scandals in the company’s history. The fallout has continued to haunt Facebook, but AG Racine is wanting to make sure Zuckerberg pays for the scandal personally.

    “Since filing our landmark lawsuit against Facebook, my office has fought tooth and nail against the company’s characteristic efforts to resist producing documents and otherwise thwart our suit. We continue to persist and have followed the evidence right to Mr. Zuckerberg,” said AG Racine.

    In particular, AG Racine makes the case that Zuckerberg was personally involved in the policies and decisions that opened the door for the Cambridge Analytica debacle.

    “The evidence shows Mr. Zuckerberg was personally involved in Facebook’s failure to protect the privacy and data of its users leading directly to the Cambridge Analytica incident,” AG Racine added. “This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr. Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct. This lawsuit is not only warranted, but necessary, and sends a message that corporate leaders, including CEOs, will be held accountable for their actions.”

    Should this lawsuit move forward and gain traction, it could be the beginning of a very difficult time for Zuckerberg.

  • Meta’s Head of PR Leaving the Company

    Meta’s Head of PR Leaving the Company

    John Pinette, Vice President of Global Communications at Meta (formerly Facebook), is leaving the company.

    Meta has had a rough couple of years. The company has faced the Cambridge Analytica scandal, been mired in controversy over the the 2020 election, the January 6 insurrection, multiple lawsuits and legislative scrutiny, as well as the release of the “Facebook Papers,” a series of internal documents that placed the company in an unfavorable light.

    Despite the challenges it’s facing, Pinette is leaving the company at a time when he’s arguably needed the most. First reported by The Wall Street Journal, via Gizmodo, Pinette broke the news in a post to employees.

    “Today will be my last day at Meta,” Pinette wrote in the post, and confirmed by the Journal. “I know the team will continue to thrive as you do some of the most important—and most difficult—work in Communications.” 

    According to Reuters, Meta has confirmed Pinette’s resignation in a statement, and has said Chris Norton, Vice President of International Communications, will fill in on an interim basis.

    “John Pinette has left Meta. We are thankful for his positive contributions during an intense and significant time in the company’s history, and we wish him well going forward,” the statement said.

  • Google Alters Search Algorithm Ahead of US Election

    Google Alters Search Algorithm Ahead of US Election

    Google is making some major changes to how its search engine operates as the US prepares for the election in November.

    Tech companies have come under fire from both sides of the aisle for alternately doing too much and not enough to combat misinformation, false claims and divisive content. Facebook famously got in major trouble over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, resulting in multiple fines and ongoing scrutiny.

    It appears Google is already taking measures to avoid any scenarios that could put it in the hot seat, by changing how its Autocomplete algorithm works in the weeks leading to the election.

    “We expanded our Autocomplete policies related to elections, and we will remove predictions that could be interpreted as claims for or against any candidate or political party,” writes Pandu Nayak Google Fellow and Vice President, Search. “We will also remove predictions that could be interpreted as a claim about participation in the election—like statements about voting methods, requirements, or the status of voting locations—or the integrity or legitimacy of electoral processes, such as the security of the election. What this means in practice is that predictions like ‘you can vote by phone’ as well as ‘you can’t vote by phone,’ or a prediction that says ‘donate to’ any party or candidate, should not appear in Autocomplete. Whether or not a prediction appears, you can still search for whatever you’d like and find results.”

    The new feature builds on the company’s policy of excluding hateful and inappropriate results from displaying in Autocomplete. It remains to be seen if these measures will have a noticeable impact.

  • Judges Orders Facebook To Hand Over Data About Possible Privacy Issues

    Judges Orders Facebook To Hand Over Data About Possible Privacy Issues

    According to The Wall Street Journal, “a Massachusetts judge has ordered Facebook to turn over data about thousands of apps that may have mishandled its users’ personal information.”

    In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has faced ongoing scrutiny and lawsuits related to how it handles user data. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined the social media giant $5 billion for its role in Cambridge Analytica. More recently, Brazil levied a $1.6 million fine on the company for the same thing.

    The most recent decision stems from Facebook’s own “admission last year that it had suspended ‘tens of thousands of apps for possible privacy violations.” Unfortunately, that was all Facebook was willing to admit to, providing neither the specific apps that were suspended, nor the alleged violations they were guilty of. As a company that has long since lost the trust of many customers and lawmakers, Facebook’s protestations that it shouldn’t be forced to turn over the data fell on deaf ears. Now the Suffolk Superior Court judge has given the company 90 days to turn over the data.

    “We are pleased that the Court ordered Facebook to tell our office which other app developers may have engaged in conduct like Cambridge Analytica,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement.

    Facebook says it is reviewing its options and may appeal the ruling.

  • Brazil Fines Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal

    Brazil Fines Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal

    Bloomberg is reporting that Brazil has levied a $1.6 million fine on Facebook for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

    The fine is the result of an investigation that began in April 2018, finding that Facebook illegally shared data for some 443,000 users.

    “It’s evident that the data of about 443,000 users of the platform were made available by the developers of the app ‘thisisyourdigitallife’ for reasons that are at least questionable,” Brazil’s justice ministry said in a statement.

    Facebook has said there is no evidence the data from Brazilian users was transferred to Cambridge Analytica, but the justice ministry said Facebook and its local unit failed to prove that less users were impacted.

    As Bloomberg points out, Facebook agreed in July to pay a $5 billion fine to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. It is not clear if Facebook will immediately pay the Brazilian fine or fight it, however. The company simply said “we are currently evaluating our legal options in this case.”

  • Cambridge Analytica Announces Closure, Files for Bankruptcy

    Cambridge Analytica Announces Closure, Files for Bankruptcy

    Cambridge Analytica, the controversial firm embroiled in the mishandling of Facebook user data, has announced its shut down on Wednesday. Its British parent SCL Elections Ltd. will also be shuttered as the data analytics company reported a significant decline in business.  

    In a press release, Cambridge Analytica blamed negative media coverage for the data scandal. It lost suppliers and clients while facing mounting legal fees, prompting the company to file for insolvency in the UK and begin bankruptcy proceedings in the US. Moreover, the company stated that it will meet its obligations to its employees, such as severance terms and redundancy entitlements.   

    Cambridge Analytica denied allegations of wrongdoing in improperly obtaining Facebook user data. They insisted that efforts to clear the air were ignored as the company continues to be vilified for its data gathering activities, which is common for targeted online advertising.  

    “As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the company into administration,” it wrote.

    The company, hired by President Donald Trump’s election campaign, has been accused of inappropriately harvesting data from 87 million Facebook users through a personality quiz. It was later revealed that the data was for targeted political advertising.

    Aside from hurting the shares and reputation of Facebook, the scandal also sparked multiple official investigations in the US and Europe. Politicians are likewise calling for stricter regulatory controls over tech companies as they continue to face scrutiny concerning broader data privacy issues.

    According to Britain’s data regulator, criminal and civil investigations on Cambridge Analytica will still continue and pursue “individuals and directors as appropriate” despite the firm’s closure. Questions remain about what happens to the company’s intellectual property, including data servers and history. However, regulators emphasized that the political firm is not allowed to delete its data repository after the shutdown.

    Established in 2013, the company positioned itself as a provider of consumer research, targeted advertising, and other data-related services to political and corporate clients. The company claimed that it could develop psychological profiles of consumers and voters to influence decisions more effectively than traditional advertising. And with Trump’s win in the 2016 US elections, Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix went on to successfully market his company’s services.

    After the data debacle, certain individuals involved with Cambridge Analytica, including Nix, have formed a new enterprise called Emerdata. However, details about its business plans remain undisclosed to date.

  • Facebook Users Would Have to Pay to Opt Out of Targeted Ads, Says COO Sheryl Sandberg

    Facebook Users Would Have to Pay to Opt Out of Targeted Ads, Says COO Sheryl Sandberg

    There’s an outstanding rumor that Facebook users would have to pay in order to keep using the service. While this rumor has been going on for years, it might soon find itself becoming a truth if Sheryl Sandberg’s recent interviews are to be believed.

    Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer is on a media blitz trying to do some damage control after the data breach that affected a staggering 87 million users. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has already given interviews about the Cambridge Analytica fiasco and is set to testify before Congress next week.

    Sandberg recently appeared on NBC for a sit-down interview and was asked by Savannah Guthrie if Facebook could develop a tool, like an opt-out button, that allows users to specifically inform the company that they don’t want their personal profile information to be used for advertising.

    Sandberg said that while the social media giant has various forms of opt-out, they “don’t have an opt-out at the highest level. If the company would ever develop such a tool, it would likely be a paid product.

    However, there’s no concrete indication that Facebook has plans to roll out such a feature. But what makes Sandberg’s answer more interesting is how it more or less confirms what everyone knows—that the company’s revenue lies almost exclusively on keeping an eye on its account holder’s behavior and preferences. And if one were to take away that option, the only recourse for the company is to replace ad sales with subscriptions.

    Sandberg also emphasized that selling user data is not how Facebook generates revenue and that the company doesn’t give personal data to advertisers. But she also pointed out that people come to Facebook to do targeted ads which are crucial for small businesses.

    “We take those ads, we show them, and we don’t pass any individual information back to the advertiser,” Facebook’s COO said.  

    While Facebook does follow a supposedly “free” business model, the company still relies on advertisers to make it a free service. However, these advertisers do require something in exchange – the information that people share.

    This information is also becoming increasingly valuable if Facebook’s latest data on average revenue per user is to be believed. Based on the available data from Facebook, American or Canadian users are worth about $26.76 while account holders in Europe cost around $8.86.

    [Featured image via CNBC YouTube]

  • It’s Worse Than You Think, Facebook Exposes Millions More Users to Cambridge Analytica Data Breach

    It’s Worse Than You Think, Facebook Exposes Millions More Users to Cambridge Analytica Data Breach

    Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Facebook revealed that Cambridge Analytica was able to access personal data of up to 87 million users. The figure was shockingly higher than the previous estimate of 50 million.

    The number was shared by the company’s chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, in a blog post. Schroepfer wrote that they “believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people – mostly in the US – may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.”

    Last month the personal data of almost 50 million Facebook users were unethically shared with Cambridge Analytica, a data company that worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign.

    The huge discrepancy between the new figures and initial estimates was surprising, although Facebook’s head Mark Zuckerberg tried to downplay it a bit, saying that he’s confident the final tally of affected users will be lower than 87 million.

    Zuckerberg is expected to appear before Congress on April 11 to discuss how Facebook manages the personal data and privacy of its 2-billion strong social media platform. Facebook’s CEO was also invited to appear before a committee of the UK parliament but he declined and just sent a deputy.

    Facebook also posted another blog post stating that it had found and deleted almost 300 additional Instagram and Facebook accounts and pages with ties to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a propaganda group working out of Russia.

    Schroepfer’s blog post also confirmed several privacy updates, like the scrapping of phone numbers and email addresses being used to search for people on the social network. The company believes that due to “the scale and sophistication” of activities they’ve uncovered, the feature made it possible for information found on their public profile to be scrapped.

    The blog also revealed that starting April 9, Facebook users will be able to check if their data was exposed to Cambridge Analytica. The disclosure on the data mining firm will reportedly appear at the top of users’ News Feed.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Mark Zuckerberg Under Fire Over Facebook’s Data Breach During US Presidential Election

    Mark Zuckerberg Under Fire Over Facebook’s Data Breach During US Presidential Election

    Lawmakers from the United States and Britain are heaping criticisms on Facebook and founder Mark Zuckerberg after reports revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a data company said to have been instrumental in Donald Trump’s presidential win, received data from 50 million Facebook users through inappropriate means.

    The social media giant announced on Friday that it suspended Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and Cambridge Analytica, its data analytics arm, for violating Facebook’s Terms of Service. It was alleged that the two companies gathered and shared the personal data of around 50 million Facebook users without consent.

    The decision to suspend SCL and Cambridge Analytica came one day before The New York Times and The Observer came out with reports detailing how Cambridge Analytica acquired and utilized private information of millions of Facebook users to develop voter profiles that were used to design highly targeted political ads during the last US Presidential Elections.

    Cambridge Analytica is partly owned by Richard Mercer, a billionaire who was previously involved in Ted Cruz’ 2015 presidential campaign before assisting Donald Trump’s presidential bid in 2016. The company was supposedly brought in by Trump’s campaign team to assist with its digital operations, which was being headed by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

    Facebook has admitted that the data Cambridge Analytica received came from Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, a psychology professor from the University of Cambridge, who designed an app that gave him permission to access the personal information of the users as well as that of their friends.

    According to Facebook, Kogan gained access to the data legitimately and “through the proper channels that governed all developers” on the platform at the time. But afterward, Kogan passed the data he gathered to Cambridge Analytica. This was a clear breach of the social media’s regulations.

    A former employee of Cambridge apparently said to the Times that the information collected from Facebook became the basis of “its work on President Trump’s campaign in 2016.”

    Cambridge Analytica’s suspension, coupled with The Observer and The New York Times reports, garnered some harsh reactions from lawmakers. Massachusetts’ Attorney General Maura Healey has said her office will investigate this situation while several congressmen want Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear and testify before their committees.

    It’s not just American lawmakers who are unhappy with Zuckerberg and his company. Their British counterparts are also demanding that Zuckerberg or another senior executive talk to them about the alleged data breach and the continued risk to user’s personal information.

    UK lawmaker Damian Collins said the company’s previous representatives gave “false assurance” that Facebook’s policies are strong and well-managed. But now he wants Zuckerberg to “stop hiding behind his Facebook page and actually come out and answer questions about his company.”

    [Featured image via YouTube]