WTF is going on at Facebook?
They say that the higher you climb, the harder you fall. Facebook, with its 2 billion monthly active users, dominates social media and digital communication. With its canny acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook-owned apps are a heavy presence on hundreds of millions of smart phones around the world. Facebook certainly climbed very high: now it’s falling very hard.
Who are Cambridge Analytica?
Facebook has stuggled with issues of data privacy frequently in its 14-year history. This recent scandal broke with a blog post last Friday, published by Facebook itself (16 March 2018). The company announced it was suspending a data analysis firm called Cambridge Analytica from Facebook.
If you’ve been following US politics in the era of Donald Trump, you may have come across the name. Cambridge Analytica are a British firm who became well known for its work assisting Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Indeed the company has been credited with a big part in helping Trump win. The firm also dabbled with the Nigel Farage Brexit campaign Leave.EU although there is some dispute over the extent of their work.
What prompted Facebook’s announcement that Cambridge Analytica, and its parent company SCL Group, were no longer welcome on the platform?
The New York Times and Guardian were about to publish a major scoop. Based on interviews with a man called Christopher Wylie, a whistleblower and former Cambridge Analytica employee, both major newspapers published accusations that the data analysis firm harvested over 50 million Facebook profiles of US voters and used them to build a powerful software program to predict and influence choices at the ballot box in the 2016 presidential election.
As Cambridge Analytica scrabbled to defend themselves over the weekend’s revelations, they were hit with more bombshells.
An undercover investigation by Channel 4 News revealed secret camera footage of explosive claims made by the firm’s CEO, Alexander Nix.
Nix claimed that Cambridge Analytica ran ‘all’ of President Trump’s digital campaign, and may have broken electoral law.
He also boasted of how the firm secretly campaigns in elections across the world, operating through a web of shadowy front companies, or by using sub-contractors. Nix even claimed that they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and sex workers.
Following the broadcast of the Channel 4 News reports, Cambridge Analytica have suspended Alexander Nix pending a full investigation.
Facebook in the firing line
Facebook initially denied culpability, laying the blame on Cambridge Analytica. But with mounting public and political pressure on the social media giant, all eyes are on their next move.
Given that the data breach happened via a seemingly innocent looking app based on personality quizzes on Facebook, the company will not be able to shrug off this scandal.
As the extent of the revelations sank in over the weekend, Facebook shares took a big hit on Monday (19 March, 2018) shaving about $37bn (£26bn) off the value of the company.
After days of very conspicuous absence and of silence, Mark Zuckerberg finally surfaced yesterday (21 March 2018) to apologise for “making mistakes” and saying he would be willing to testify before Congress.
So… should you delete your Facebook profile? 😱
How does all this affect your carefully curated timeline of cute kitten pics, sassy memes and treasured pictures of nights out that you’ve shared with your Facebook friends?
Delete is an option. Damage limitation is another. How much is your privacy worth?
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