Facebook and Cambridge Analytica Investigation

With over 2 billion active users, Facebook has collected a massive amount of personalized data about its users.  Facebook has also admitted that it has allowed third parties, such as Cambridge Analytica, to access millions of its users’ personal data without their knowledge. In or around April 2018, millions of Facebook users received notification that their personal data was shared with Cambridge Analytica. This was the result of a third party app developer mining the personal data from the app’s 270,000 users and their 87 million Facebook friends and transmitting that data to Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica is a political consulting firm that combines data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication for the electoral process. The firm used the Facebook user data, in part, to build and test user profiles for voter micro-targeting. In 2016, Cambridge Analytica began working for the Trump campaign and helped design target audiences for digital ads, model voter turnout, and test campaign slogans, among other things. 60 Minutes called it “Trump’s secret weapon.” Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is investigating this privacy breach facilitated by Facebook.  If you received notification that your personal Facebook data was shared with Cambridge Analytica, feel free to contact Rosemary M. Rivas, Esq. (rrivas@zlk.com) or Quentin A. Roberts, Esq. (qroberts@zlk.com) of Levi & Korsinsky, LLP to discuss your legal rights.