Cambridge Analytica is said to have used the accounts to promote Donald Trump during the presidential campaign. But, the longer lasting consequences of the issue may be increased regulatory oversight of Facebook and of digital marketing practices. That is especially true when considering that Democrats are believed by some observers to have an increased chance of winning Congressional seats in the midterm election.
Facebook recently announced that it had suspended Cambridge Analytica and the company’s parent, SCL Group. Facebook maintains that Global Science Research gathered data on the 275,000 users who installed the “thisisyourdigitallife” app created by University of Cambridge Professor Dr. Aleksandr Kogan. The app paid individuals to take a personality test and the data was purportedly to be used for academic research. According to one account, Global Science Research may have also gathered data on Facebook friends of individuals who had installed the app. This means that Global Science Research may have collected data on 50 million individuals, most of whom never took the test or gave Global Science Research permission to use their data.
Facebook maintains that Global Science Research improperly shared the data with Cambridge Analytica. It therefore instructed Cambridge Analytica to delete the data. More recently, Facebook learned that Cambridge Analytica may not have destroyed the data and responded by suspending the company.
Cambridge Analytica was hired by the Trump campaign to pitch highly targeted advertisements based on the firm’s psychological profiling of individuals, which is legal, assuming the organization used data that was property obtained. Now, however, regulators are scrutinizing if privacy laws have been violated.
Recently, the attorney generals for New York and Massachusetts announced a joint investigation into Cambridge Analytica’s alleged use of the data during the presidential campaign, reports The Verge.
The attorney generals are demanding that Facebook describe how the data was used in the presidential campaign and they are seeking information on privacy notices that the social media company has provided to users. Additionally, they want documentation of Facebook’s requests to have Cambridge Analytica delete the data.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and six Congressional committees are also taking action, reports Bloomberg. More specifically, the Trade Commission is investigating if Facebook violated terms of a 2011 consent decree over its handling of personal user data that was transferred to Cambridge Analytica without users’ knowledge. Facebook is also expected to provide staff-level briefings for six Congressional committees, including the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, as well as the commerce and intelligence committees.
At least by some accounts, an even bigger issue could be that Facebook and Cambridge have complied with the law. That means massive data collection, or in other words, web-based stalking that collects data that can be used inappropriately could continue, reports The Daily Beast. Firms such as Acxiom, WPP and GroupM each claim to each have profiles on more than 500 million consumers. Credit card data is also readily available.
The Facebook issue is gaining increased attention at a time when some observers believe that Democrats are likely to gain seats in Congress this November and push for increased regulation of digital marketing and privacy. That sentiment is being driven, in large part, by Conor Lamb, a Democrat who recently won the 18th Congressional District House seat in Pennsylvania, which has been a reliably Republican area and is considered to be in the heart of Trump country.