Why Cambridge Analytica Is Filling Insolvency

Cambridge Analytica and the SCL Group UK based data consulting firm having offices in London, New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Cambridge Analytica, the Political consulting firm has been implicated in major political developments in both the UK and America as well as in India and beyond. Documents made public by whistleblower Christopher Wylie highlighted the “extensive” work conducted by SCL Elections in India, helping parties target audiences based on factors such as caste.

It is at the centre of a storm around misuse of Facebook user data, is shutting down and has filed for bankruptcy. It is true that after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, there are many opted out for signing up for a Facebook account and it is true. The Facebook scandal is creating a new wave of people are deleting their Facebook accounts, and that’s fine. But fundamentally, thanks to network effects, it is hard to quit Facebook. There are some observations also true that many have deleted their facebook accounts from their Smart phones.

Cambridge Analytica, so called scandal is more or less standard practice for every other technology company, including places like Google and even Apple. Facebook simply had the misfortune of getting caught after playing fast and loose with who has control over their data. The testimony gives previously known details about the role of Russian interference on the social network in the build-up to the 2016 US elections, as well as the role UK firm Cambridge Analytica played in harvesting users’ data for political purposes. The company, which was retained by Donald Trump's presidential campaign, has come under tremendous pressure after it was revealed to have obtained data associated with up to 87 million Facebook users, including that of over 5,00,000 Indians . Facebook has informed the government that "only 335 people" in India were directly affected through the installation of an app and another 562,120 people were "potentially affected" as friends of those users. Facebook has over 20 crore users in India.

Zuckerberg reveals stopping Facebook data abuse will significantly impact profits. Facebook profits soared 63 per cent to $5bn (£3.6bn) in the first three months of the year despite the company being engulfed in a data privacy scandal that has angered millions of users. Facebook is a social networking company that has acquired more than 65 companies at the global level, including Instagram and WhatsApp. In order to prevent such abuses in the future, Zuckerberg said, he would be significantly increasing the company’s investment in security, adding 5,000 people to a team dedicated to reviewing content. Users provide every detail of their life to Facebook and Facebook makes a lot of advertising money off this. “The profits are all based on the user’s info, but the users get none of the profits back”. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg appears before Congress, a look at what lawmakers can and can’t do about Facebook.

When the news of Cambridge Analytica's demise broke here at Facebook's F8 developer conference, it is safe to say few tears were shed. The scandal over data misuse has been a crisis not just for Facebook but for the thousands of external developers whose access to data has been curbed in response to the affair. The Company( Cambridge Analytica) is immediately ceasing all operations” and has filed applications to begin insolvency proceedings in the UK, Cambridge Analytica said in a statement.

Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office, which is investigating SCL Group (which is not shuttering) and Cambridge Analytica as part of a wider investigation into the use of personal data and analytics in political campaigns, said it would continue its civil and criminal investigations and would pursue individuals and directors “as appropriate and necessary” and also monitor successor companies to “ensure the public is safeguarded. A separate investigation by the House of Commons committee on digital, culture, media and sport into fake news will also continue to examine issues relating to Cambridge Analytica. “Cambridge Analytica and SCL group cannot be allowed to delete their data history by closing. The investigations into their work are vital,” said the committee’s chair Damian Collins.

Earlier this week, the committee sent a strongly worded letter to Facebook, with 40 questions that had not yet been answered in its testimony, and a deadline of May 11 for Mark Zuckerberg to agree to give evidence directly to the committee before May 24, failing which a formal summons could be issued to him.

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