Facebook has suspended Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and its affiliate, data analysis and targeting firm Cambridge Analytica, for "violating our platform policies."
Why it matters, per Axios' Kim Hart: Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm that worked with the Trump campaign leading up to the 2016 election, claimed to have developed personality profiles on every American — but it's unclear where that data came from. It has become a focus of both the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian election meddling and Robert Mueller’s probe.
- Per Facebook, a University of Cambridge psychology professor named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan passed user information collected through an app that used Facebook Login to the organization.
- While his data collection was "legitimate," he violated Facebook's policies by "passing information on to a third party." Facebook then "demanded certification from Kogan and all parties he had given data to that the information had been destroyed."
- Facebook said it was told "several days ago" that not all of the data collected by Kogan had been destroyed, leading to the suspension of SCL/Cambridge Analytica, Kogan, and a third person who was given the data.
- "We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims," said Facebook's Paul Grewal in a blog post that went live late Friday evening.