Facebook scandal

The Guardian and New York Times reported in March 2018 that a corporation named Global Science Research had acquired data from millions of Facebook users in 2013 - without their explicit agreement. This was feasible because an earlier version of Facebook's privacy policy permitted apps to access data about users' friends' names, birthdays, and whereabouts. This allowed Global Science Research to collect data on 87 million Facebook users despite the fact that only roughly 30,000 people had utilized their app. These information was eventually sold to Cambridge Analytica, who used it to generate highly targeted advertising urging users to vote for Trump and Brexit. The furore surrounding this scandal was so serious that Mark Zuckerberg was called to answer questions in front of Congress in the US.

In a matter of days, Facebook's market capitalization was reduced by more than $100 billion, and legislators in the United States and the United Kingdom demanded answers from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Because of the harsh public reaction to the media portrayal, he agreed to testify before the United States Congress. Meghan McCain drew an analogy between Cambridge Analytica's use of data and Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign; PolitiFact, on the other hand, claimed that this data was not used unethically because Obama's campaign used it to "have their supporters contact their most persuadable friends" rather than for highly targeted digital ads on websites like Facebook.

Start Date: 2014

Location: United States