| Author (Person) | Romaniello, Martina |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Cardiff EDC |
| Series Details | March 2018 |
| Publication Date | 19/03/2018 |
| Content Type | News |
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In March 2018 Facebook and the U.S. firm Cambridge Analytica were accused of breaching personal data of over 50 million users. These data were used to target voters with political messages, especially during the 2016 American election and the Brexit campaign. Further information: On 16 March 2018 Facebook suspended the firm Cambridge Analytica after the 28-year-old whistleblower Christopher Wylie revealed how the company harvested personal information of possibly more than 87 thousand Facebook users worldwide (including 2.7 million Europeans) to build a system that could profile individual US voters, in order to target them with personalised political advertisements. The company Cambridge Analytica was also involved in the Brexit campaign. Facebook said that researchers and Cambridge Analytica lied to it and abused its policies, but critics threw blame at Facebook as well, calling for new regulation. Moreover, on 19 March European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said the institution will investigate the reports of massive misuse of Facebook’s data for political purposes. On 20 March, Cambridge Analytica decided to suspend its CEO Alexander Nix since he did not represent the values of the company. Meanwhile, the European Parliament invited Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to speak on data breach. |
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| Subject Categories | Values and Beliefs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
