Facebook is again in the news for the obvious reasons. A fresh report now claims that not all the data that Cambridge Analytica gathered from Facebook was deleted and is still circulating, despite what both companies have said. Portions of the Cambridge Analytica data on as many as 50 million Facebook users may still be out in the wild, the report asserted.
According to UK's Channel 4 News, the cache of campaign data from a Cambridge Analytica source, details 1,36,000 individuals in the US state of Colorado, along with each person's personality and psychological profile.
"The data, which dates from 2014, was used by Cambridge Analytica to target specific messages at residents who would be most susceptible to them," the report said. Cambridge Analytica had earlier asserted that it has deleted the data from the public domain.
The company received the user data from a Facebook app years ago that purported to be a psychological research tool; however, the firm was not authorised to have that information.
Facebook’s privacy practices have come under heat after Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm affiliated with President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, got data inappropriately. The firm is claimed to have created psychological profiles to influence how people vote or even think about politics and society.
Cambridge Analytica is reportedly under examination from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, and the company has proposed to undergo an autonomous third-party audit to clear its name.
(With inputs from IANS)
