The British data analysis firm at the centre of Facebook's privacy scandal is declaring bankruptcy and shutting down.
London-based Cambridge Analytica blamed "unfairly negative media coverage" and said it has been "vilified" for actions it says are both legal and widely accepted as part of online advertising.
"The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company's customers and suppliers," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. "As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business."
The company said it has filed papers to begin insolvency proceedings in the U.K. and will seek bankruptcy protection in a federal court in New York. Employees were told on Wednesday to turn in their computers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Facebook said it will keep looking into data misuse by Cambridge Analytica even though the firm is closing down. And Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, a digital advocacy group in Washington, said criticisms of Facebook's privacy practices won't go away just because Cambridge Analytica has.
"Cambridge Analytica's practices, although it crossed ethical boundaries, is really emblematic of how data-driven digital marketing occurs worldwide," Chester said.
"Rather than rejoicing that a bad actor has met its just reward, we should recognize that many more Cambridge Analytica-like companies are operating in the conjoined commercial and political marketplace."Just a little reminder, in case you still needed it, that there's more where Cambridge Analytica came from, and Facebook's fiasco is far from over. I have to disagree with Jeff Chester on one point, though: I think that most of us can still remember that, while also rejoicing in Cambridge Analytica's demise.
The other Facebook histoire du jour? The Facebook engineer, and professional stalker, that they had to fire for abusing FB's user information database, of course.
From TechCrunch:
There’s no shortage of Facebook news this week on account of F8, but this creepy Facebook-adjacent event with a good outcome seems worth noting. An engineer accused of abusing his access to data at the company in Tinder messages has been fired, Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch today.
The issue arose over the weekend: Jackie Stokes, founder of Spyglass Security, explained on Twitter that someone she knew had received some rather creepy messages from someone she personally confirmed was a Facebook engineer.
The engineer described themselves as a “professional stalker,” which however accurate it may be (they attempt to unmask hackers) is probably not the best way to introduce yourself to a potential partner. They then implied that they had been employing their professional acumen in pursuit of identifying their new quarry.
[...]
Facebook employees contacted Stokes for more information and began investigating. Alex Stamos, Facebook’s chief security officer, offered the following statement:Oh, that's right... F8 was also happening this week! Seriously, the fact that Facebook's conference/product rollout couldn't even dominate the Facebook news cycle for two whole days before problems with their privacy practices surged to the fore should be a pretty clear symptom of the real problem with Facebook... namely, Facebook itself. Say it with me, now: Facebook is the problem.
We are investigating this as a matter of urgency. It’s important that people’s information is kept secure and private when they use Facebook. It’s why we have strict policy controls and technical restrictions so employees only access the data they need to do their jobs – for example to fix bugs, manage customer support issues or respond to valid legal requests. Employees who abuse these controls will be fired.And fired he was, “immediately,” a Facebook spokesperson confirmed.
Samantha Bee's rant on the subject sums it up pretty well:
#FacebookIsTheProblem
#DeleteFacebook