Eleanor Finch
The Cambridge Analytica scandal involved the misuse of personal data from Facebook, which was used to target and influence voters in political campaigns. The company was hired by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign team, and it has been alleged that Cambridge Analytica provided data on American voters' thoughts and opinions to Trump's campaign strategists. The data was used to create targeted political advertisements on social media, with the aim of influencing the behaviour and opinions of voters. The scandal also involved the misuse of data from Google and Facebook to create detailed profiles of individuals, which were then sold to advertisers.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Political Campaign Involved | Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign |
| Scandal Involvement | Illegal harvesting of Facebook data to create psychographic profiles of voters and manipulate their behaviour |
| Number of Facebook Profiles Harvested | 50 million (later revised to 87 million) |
| Company Involved | Cambridge Analytica |
| Cambridge Analytica's Investors | Robert Mercer, Steve Bannon, Vincent Tchenguiz, Jonathan Marland, Roger Gabb, and more |
| Cambridge Analytica's Parent Company | SCL Group |
| SCL Group's Focus | Influencing elections in developing countries |
| Cambridge Analytica's Focus | Western countries, including the US and UK |
| Cambridge Analytica's CEO | Alexander Nix |
| Outcome | Nix removed as CEO, replaced by Julian Wheatland before the company closed |
| Regulatory Action | US regulators approved a $5 billion settlement against Facebook |
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What You'll Learn
Cambridge Analytica and the 2016 Brexit referendum
The Cambridge Analytica scandal centres on the misuse of data and the company's involvement in political campaigns. Cambridge Analytica, a London-based elections consultancy, has been accused of harvesting and using the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent. The data was then allegedly used to try and influence the outcome of political campaigns, including the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK and the 2016 US presidential election.
In the case of the Brexit referendum, there have been conflicting claims about the involvement of Cambridge Analytica. The company's former CEO, Alexander Nix, wrote in February 2016 that Cambridge Analytica was working for the Leave.EU campaign. He claimed that they had helped "supercharge" the campaign's social media presence by ensuring that the right messages reached the right voters. Leave.EU's communications director, Andy Wigmore, also recommended the company, stating that they had used Cambridge Analytica's services. Arron Banks, the co-founder of Leave.EU, initially stated that they had hired Cambridge Analytica and that the company would help them map the British electorate. However, Banks later retracted this claim, stating that no contract was signed and no work was completed.
In 2019, a former Cambridge Analytica official, Brittany Kaiser, provided internal emails to the British Parliament, indicating that the company had indeed conducted work for the Leave.EU campaign and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) ahead of the 2016 referendum. These emails suggested that Leave.EU used datasets created by Cambridge Analytica to target voters with tailored political messages. Kaiser also stated that Cambridge Analytica had sent a £41,500 invoice for its work to UKIP, as Leave.EU lacked extensive digital information.
Despite these revelations, the British Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) concluded in 2020 that Cambridge Analytica was "not involved" in the 2016 Brexit referendum. The ICO's investigation led to fines for Facebook and two pro-Brexit campaign groups, Vote Leave and Leave.EU, but found no evidence of Cambridge Analytica's involvement beyond initial enquiries made about UKIP. The regulator identified systemic vulnerabilities in UK democratic systems but did not find any significant breaches of privacy or data protection legislation by the referendum campaigns.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal highlights the concerns surrounding the use of digital political campaigning and the potential lack of control over how these campaigns operate. It has prompted calls for greater oversight and transparency in the use of data profiling and targeting of voters by political groups.
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Cambridge Analytica's involvement in the 2016 US presidential election
Cambridge Analytica was a London-based political data analytics and consultancy firm. It was involved in the 2016 US presidential election, working for Donald Trump's campaign. The company was hired by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
The firm was co-founded by Christopher Wylie, who revealed in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of 50 million Facebook users. This number was later revised to 87 million. The data was used to create detailed profiles of American voters, allowing the company to target them with tailored messaging. This was achieved by combining data mining and brokerage with strategic communication.
The scandal led to the removal of Cambridge Analytica's CEO, Alexander Nix, who had claimed in a secretly recorded video that his company played a decisive role in Trump's election victory. In the video, Nix also described questionable practices used to influence foreign elections, including the firm's involvement in all aspects of Trump's digital and TV campaigns. He further stated that he met Trump "many times" when he was the Republican presidential candidate.
In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Cambridge Analytica for misuse of data. The British Information Commissioner's Office also launched a three-year inquiry into the company, focusing on its involvement in the 2016 Brexit referendum and potential Russian interference. The inquiry concluded that Cambridge Analytica was not involved in the Brexit campaign and found no evidence of Russian interference. However, it was discovered that US sensitive polling and election data were passed to Russian Intelligence through a Cambridge Analytica contractor, Sam Patten, and his associate Konstantin Kilimnik.
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Cambridge Analytica's data harvesting methods
The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal involved the collection of personal data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. This data was used for political advertising and to influence elections. Cambridge Analytica's data harvesting methods were sophisticated and involved several steps.
Firstly, they created an app called "This Is Your Digital Life" or "thisisyourdigitallife," developed by data scientist Aleksandr Kogan and his company Global Science Research (GSR) in 2013. The app consisted of a series of questions to build psychological profiles of users. Hundreds of thousands of users were paid to take a personality test and agreed to have their data collected for academic use. However, the app also collected the personal data of the users' Facebook friends, resulting in a vast pool of data.
Secondly, they used Facebook likes and other personal information to build psychographic profiles of individuals. These profiles included personality traits, political affiliations, and other predictions. Christopher Wylie, a co-founder of Cambridge Analytica, stated that they "built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons." This allowed them to create tailored messages and advertisements for different user segments, such as Trump supporters or potential swing votes.
Thirdly, they utilised micro-targeting techniques to display customised messages about specific political campaigns or candidates, such as Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. These messages were shown to different users on various digital platforms, including Facebook.
Additionally, Cambridge Analytica had ties to several political campaigns and parties. They worked with the Trump presidential campaign, the UK's Leave.EU Brexit campaign, and Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign. They also had connections to the Conservative Party and its donors, as well as the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in Mexico.
The methods employed by Cambridge Analytica raised serious concerns about data privacy and ethical boundaries in political advertising and election campaigning. The scandal led to Facebook facing significant backlash, with Mark Zuckerberg testifying before Congress and Facebook being fined by the Federal Trade Commission for its privacy violations. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy and its CEO, Alexander Nix, was replaced before the company closed.
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Cambridge Analytica's psychographic analytics
The now-defunct political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica was at the centre of a major data scandal involving Facebook. The firm was revealed to have harvested the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their explicit consent, and to have used this data to develop targeted political advertising.
Cambridge Analytica developed dozens of ad variations on different political themes such as immigration, the economy, and gun rights, all tailored to different personality profiles. This allowed them to adapt their message to the personality of the target audience, which helped to get that message across. This approach to electioneering and marketing is often compared to the traditional methods of good salespeople, who adjust their message and delivery to suit the personality of their customers.
The data for Cambridge Analytica's psychographic analytics was provided by two University of Cambridge academics, Aleksandr Kogan and Dr. Aleksandr Kogan (it is unclear whether these are the same person), who sold them access to 270,000 personality tests completed by Facebook users through an online app created for research purposes. Kogan's data also included information from the test-takers' Facebook friends, which, at an average of 200 friends per person, added up to a total of approximately 50 million people. This data was then used by Cambridge Analytica to develop algorithms that could take the Facebook likes of its subjects and work backward to guess their personalities, political affiliations, and more.
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Cambridge Analytica's role in the 2018 Mexican presidential election
The British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica was involved in numerous political campaigns, including the 2016 US presidential election and the UK's Brexit referendum. The company combined data mining, brokerage, and analysis with strategic communication during electoral processes.
In 2017, Cambridge Analytica reached out to Mexico's ruling political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), to offer its services for the 2018 presidential election campaign. The PRI believed it was well-equipped to handle the election on its own but still paid Cambridge Analytica to prevent it from working with rival parties. According to Channel 4 News, Cambridge Analytica worked for the PRI until at least January 2018. The company's involvement in the 2018 Mexican presidential election sparked concerns about its potential impact on the electoral process and raised questions about data privacy and ethical boundaries in political campaigns.
Cambridge Analytica's role in the Mexican election was part of a broader pattern of the company's involvement in political campaigns worldwide. The company had previously worked on 44 U.S. political races in 2014 and performed data analysis services for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign in 2015. In 2016, the company faced scrutiny for its work with Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the UK's Leave.EU Brexit campaign.
The methods employed by Cambridge Analytica in these campaigns sparked controversy. The company utilized data from millions of Facebook users to create sophisticated profiling algorithms that predicted personality traits, political affiliations, and voting preferences. This data was collected through an app called "thisisyourdigitallife," built by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan, which offered paid personality tests and collected data for academic use. However, the app also collected data from users' Facebook friends without their explicit consent, resulting in a significant breach of trust and concerns about the ethical boundaries of data usage in political campaigns.
The revelations about Cambridge Analytica's data practices sparked investigations by regulatory bodies and contributed to a broader conversation about the role of data in politics and the responsibility of tech giants like Facebook in protecting user data. The company faced significant backlash, and CEO Alexander Nix was removed from his position before the company closed. The scandal also led to wider inquiries into the use of data in political campaigns and the potential influence of foreign entities, such as Russia, through data-sharing with companies like Cambridge Analytica.
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Frequently asked questions
Cambridge Analytica was hired by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign team. The company allegedly provided data on the thoughts of American voters to Mr Trump's campaign strategists, ultimately influencing the 2016 presidential election.
Cambridge Analytica used a Facebook app called "thisisyourdigitallife", developed by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan and his company Global Science Research (GSR) in collaboration with Cambridge Analytica. The app offered payment to users in return for filling out a personality test. This allowed the company to improperly obtain data from up to 87 million Facebook profiles, including status updates, likes, and even private messages.
The scandal raised concerns about the use of personal data from social media to manipulate voters and distort democratic discourse. It also led to questions about the business model of Big Tech companies and their access to and monetisation of user data. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Cambridge Analytica for misuse of data, and US regulators approved a $5 billion settlement against Facebook over the scandal in 2018.
