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In 2018, one of the biggest data privacy scandals in history came to light, revealing how Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, harvested data from millions of Facebook users without their explicit consent. This scandal not only shook the tech industry but also raised serious concerns about user privacy, election manipulation, and the role of social media in democracy.
The controversy began when Cambridge Analytica gained access to Facebook data through an app called "This Is Your Digital Life," developed by researcher Aleksandr Kogan. The app was presented as a personality quiz, and around 270,000 Facebook users installed it. However, due to Facebook’s then-existing policies, the app could collect data not only from users who installed it but also from their friends—resulting in a massive data leak affecting approximately 87 million users.
The data was collected through a third-party Facebook app called "This Is Your Digital Life," developed by a researcher named Aleksandr Kogan in 2013.
Here’s how the data collection worked:
1. The app offered personality quizzes to users, claiming to be for academic research.
2. When a user took the quiz, the app not only collected their data but also accessed data from their Facebook friends (without their knowledge or consent).
3. Approximately 270,000 people took the quiz, but due to Facebook’s data-sharing policies at the time, data from nearly 87 million users was harvested.
4. Kogan then sold this data to Cambridge Analytica, violating Facebook’s policies.
Cambridge Analytica used the harvested data to build psychological profiles of voters. These profiles were then used for:
Although Facebook learned about the data misuse in 2015, the scandal only gained global attention in March 2018 when a whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, a former Cambridge Analytica employee, revealed the extent of the data breach to The Guardian and The New York Times.
The reports exposed how:
The scandal led to legal actions and massive fines:
1. FTC Fine: Facebook was fined $5 billion by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019 for data privacy violations.
2. UK Fine: The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) fined Facebook £500,000 (the maximum penalty under pre-GDPR laws).
3. Cambridge Analytica Shutdown: Facing multiple investigations and lawsuits, Cambridge Analytica declared bankruptcy in May 2018.
The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal was a wake-up call for the digital world, exposing how personal data can be exploited for political manipulation. It highlighted the need for stricter regulations, responsible data handling by tech companies, and greater awareness among users about online privacy. Although Facebook took corrective measures, the scandal remains a defining moment in the history of data privacy.
