# Explain the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook debacle. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958 "2018-03-21T13:10:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/1 "2018-03-21T13:10:13Z")
Cambridge Analytica is in the news for a number of activities related to the 2016 US presidential election. The one I’m interested here is their interaction with Facebook, in which they collected “personal” data of FB users and ultimately used it to aid Donald Trump’s campaign. The media are vague and varied in their description of this activity, so I’m wondering if someone here can lay out specifics: -was FB hacked, and the data stolen by CA? -Was data sold to CA by FB and then used by CA in a way that violated the terms of some agreement between FB and CA? -Was data robo-harvested from publicly accessible areas of user accounts? -Was data taken from non-public areas of user accounts? -The data was said to have been taken/used without the permission of FB users. Assuming FB consented to whatever happened, did their provision of data to CA violate the terms of the FB user agreement (e.g. “FB will never use your data for \*\*\*…”)? Or does the UA place no limits on what FB can do with user data? -A user agreement may be grounds for FB expelling a user, but assuming FB is the one who violated it, is it some kind of legally binding thing that FB members could use as the basis of a lawsuit? In short, are there actual violations of laws or written agreements by FA and/or FB, or does this all down to CA (and possibly FB) having engaged in activities that many people find sleazy (but not illegal)? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/2 "2018-03-21T14:20:26Z")
Facebook has data on it users that it sells to advertisers so that they can target their advertisements. Political campaigns are among the buyers of this information. Apparently, CA created a survey that allowed the company access to not only the data of the survey takers but their facebook friends as well. The last bit is apparently a violation of facebook policy. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/3 "2018-03-21T14:38:07Z")
There’s already a [thread in Elections](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bolt%2Cfastener&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbolt%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfastener%3B%2Cc0)on it with tons of links. ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/4 "2018-03-21T14:46:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There’s already a [thread in Elections](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bolt%2Cfastener&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cbolt%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfastener%3B%2Cc0)on it with tons of links. I don’t think this is the link you intended; it’s a Google Ngram about bolts and fasteners. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/5 "2018-03-21T14:52:23Z")
Presumably [this](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=851330) is the intended link. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/6 "2018-03-21T15:49:10Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > I don’t think this is the link you intended; it’s a Google Ngram about bolts and fasteners. Look, let’s keep Exapno’s porn habits private, OK? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/7 "2018-03-21T16:07:11Z")
As the joke headline says about an escapee from an insane asylum: Nut Bolts and Screws. A variant has him assaulting a laundry: Nut Screws Washers and Bolts. Ah, the Good Old Days of innocent humor before the millennials invented sex and irony. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/8 "2018-03-21T20:18:23Z")
[Here](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/the-cambridge-analytica-scandal-in-three-paragraphs/556046/) is an article that boils it down to three paragraphs. It is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/9 "2018-03-21T22:44:22Z")
Supposedly info on tens of millions of Americans was stolen from facebook, hacked from voter rolls and stolen from a health company. It was then all conglomerated (the voter rolls and health company had names, addresses and contact info for voters), sent to Russia, and Russia used it to micro target voters in swing states with dishonest political ads to help get Trump elected. Thats the rumor. We will see if the facts bear it out. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/10 "2018-03-21T23:19:09Z")
[Statement from Mark Zuckerberg himself.](https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10104712037900071) Seems as good an overview as any I have seen. > [@Mark Zuckerberg](#): > > In 2015, we learned from journalists at The Guardian that Kogan had shared data from his app with Cambridge Analytica. It is against our policies for developers to share data without people’s consent, so we immediately banned Kogan’s app from our platform, and demanded that Kogan and Cambridge Analytica formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data. They provided these certifications. > > Last week, we learned from The Guardian, The New York Times and Channel 4 that Cambridge Analytica may not have deleted the data as they had certified. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/11 "2018-03-22T03:12:14Z")
These may be helpful as well: [Overview from CNN](http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/technology/what-is-cambridge-analytica/index.html) [Summary of Channel 4 exposé from the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/19/cambridge-analytica-execs-boast-dirty-tricks-honey-traps-elections) My general take on it is that Facebook, while basically well-intentioned, has time and time again been guilty of careless and incompetent handling of sensitive user information and careless about privacy issues, and Zuckerberg admitted as much though not quite in those words. Cambridge Analytica, OTOH, is an entirely different story. It seems to be a truly shady and secretive organization and has been [funded and controlled by truly shady characters](https://www.thedailybeast.com/rebekah-mercer-stands-by-cambridge-analytica). It’s telling that while Facebook has been cooperative with investigations both here and abroad, the British Information Commissioner has had to seek a subpoena against CA. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-the-cambridge-analytica-facebook-debacle/810958/12 "2018-03-22T04:10:35Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > These may be helpful as well: > [Overview from CNN](http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/20/technology/what-is-cambridge-analytica/index.html) > [Summary of Channel 4 exposé from the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/19/cambridge-analytica-execs-boast-dirty-tricks-honey-traps-elections) > > My general take on it is that Facebook, while basically well-intentioned, has time and time again been guilty of careless and incompetent handling of sensitive user information and careless about privacy issues, and Zuckerberg admitted as much though not quite in those words. > > Cambridge Analytica, OTOH, is an entirely different story. It seems to be a truly shady and secretive organization and has been [funded and controlled by truly shady characters](https://www.thedailybeast.com/rebekah-mercer-stands-by-cambridge-analytica). It’s telling that while Facebook has been cooperative with investigations both here and abroad, the British Information Commissioner has had to seek a subpoena against CA. To add to this, Nix was recently added as a Director for a company named [Emeradata](https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10911848/officers) - fellow directors are Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer and the guy who runs one of Erik Prince’s [companies](https://medium.com/@wsiegelman/cambridge-analytica-executives-created-a-company-in-2017-with-the-executive-director-deputy-b803f27f84a2), [Frontier Services Group](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group).