Bannon once boasted he could destroy lots of marriages. You have to ask yourself if Ryans and McConnells are among them.
4
Quick question- are you reading this on the NYT website? Are you seeing targeted ads? Maybe featuring items you have already bought or browsed for online?
Guess what? That's what this whole story is about. If the company took data from FB users to use in campaign research, they did the very same legal thing that this paper serves as a platform for every day.
2
@DZ
Quick question: is micro-targeting using stolen data the reason we're seeing your comment? Guess what? If you're a Russian troll or have passionate pro-Trump feelings from disinformation you've been fed (and swallowed hook, line and sinker) your intent is to inflame or mislead others. By the way, the NYTimes doesn't target using stolen data and the customized ads that appear are by way of google not The Times.
There's no upside to trivializing stolen Big Data used to confuse, mislead or inflame people who have been profiled by their political leanings mainly aggregated from the search questions they've put to google or played games or answered questions on FB.
Stolen data aren't legal. Trump didn't get elected because people voted for him on his merits (ha!). They were systematically conditioned to hate Hillary Clinton with messages designed and targeted by data stolen from Facebook, which stole it from FB users without their consent or knowledge.
Only someone paid or duped would say that there's no fire here despite the majority of Americans choking on smoke.
14
He should be in jail. Come on ICO. We are waiting.
2
When someone crashes a party it may well be to not just for free loading but to study the location of the Host's and the guests' valuables and steal them.That is an attempt burglary, hence a felony.Similarly, given circle of friends, acquaintances who voluntarily chose to be A FB pals crashing into that domain has to be a felony.The main offenders are the intruders so going after them,coming up with an effective technical means that identifies and repulses the intruders is something that has to be continuously in place.Yes,responsible Law Info bodies from Democracies and seriously governed nations may be justified to pry into the privacy of some of FB Gps for the sole purpose of preempting crime,rampant spreaders of Opiods or other addictive drugs,Evil doing Orgs( subverting a Demo process is an evil act that should be targeted),etc..Also, some hijack a FB platform to exaggerate incidences or plant fabricated stories to incite unnecessary violence that results in the loss of many innocent lives and injuries.These have to be monitored and edited out.A FB platform when wisely used it is a source of comfort,enlightenment,building something constructive( Pres O.'s team used it as a way of securing a lot of small donations which added up to bringing a + outcome),etc.Users too have to practice enough prudence and contain themselves from spilling their gut or flung wide open the door to their life.A multifaceted Prob that needs a multifaceted approach not a rush to a boycott.TMD.
Nix is the type of guy that should be beat up on the sidewalk. So are Bannon and Mercer. The problem is, we’ve all tricked ourselves into believing the justice system works.
I’ve got news for you, sometimes the old methods serve as stronger deterrents...
3
NIX: balk (at), decline, disapprove, negative, pass, pass up, refuse, reject, reprobate, repudiate, spurn, throw out, throw over, turn down ~ Merriam-Webster
2
Keep digging, and put more resources to work doing so. There's a lot of SLIME that needs some strong sunshine. The Mercers and Bannon are, like Trump, of a species of very large slugs, who leave a trail of slime everywhere they've crawled.
8
Given that CA was founded by Steve Bannon & Robert Mercer and that the
Mercer's paid 5 million to do all this... is that a political contribution??
has that money been reported as a contribution to the Trump campaign??
You really think that that data was deleted??... cause that data wins elections..
like the one coming up in november 2018.... Really think it's gone?? Cause
I'm not that bright.. so I would of made 10 copies of that 5 million dollar
investment... in case I lost a copy... Also does that mean it costs 5 million
to elect a president?? cause Trump won... and even Trump thought he had
no chance of winning...
1
Catnip for Robert Mueller!
1
Unlike Andrew McCabe who was fired at nth hour before retiring, Nix probably gets to keep his stock options and bonuses.
1
Amazing that Nix goes around undermining democracy -- for a big fee -- using sophisticated algorithms and stolen files but isn't smart enough to know when he's been set up. Now Mueller gets another snitch to squeal higher up the food chain. Mercer and Bannon better lawyer up quick. Zuckerberg and Sandberg are "leaning in" and squirming. Zuckerberg might want to start donating big bucks for prison reform now.
The truth might set you free but it also can send you to prison.
The biggest fool of all is the one who thinks he fools others and not himself.
5
I hope you guys are starting to get the picture: this is where the Putin connection comes in. Putin wants to weaken the European Union, Trump and Bannon feel the same way. They are all three of a white nationalist stripe. I wager there are some big connections over Brexit, the italian five star, Le Front National, Orban and Putin/Trump. Putin was the biggest Brexit beneficiary because Brexit was more than he could have hoped for in a weakened EU. Russia has always wanted weak states on its borders, hence the destabilization of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Cambridge Analytica, Bannon and the Mercers with Brexit gave Putin reason to laugh all the way to the bank. Nigel Farrage supported Trump - though he's cooled down as Mueller has heated up. Now Trump and the Republicans are trying to normalize this white supremacist/corporatist/Catholic fundamentalist (Bannon) world domination troika.
6
The very corrupt Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign, Bannon and the Mercers meet the definitions for "thieves of state" and "deep state."
3
This is where the collision question finds its ultimate answer.
Trump— Kushner—Bannon—Mercers—Putin
Did I leave anybody out?
3
What about Mercer's involvement in this? It is his oligarch Dark Money that is behind all of this. Isn't there any accountability for the founder of this criminal organization?
4
This company is a criminal enterprise. The entire staff should be "suspended" and put in prison.
5
So WHY IN THE WORLD did Strategic Communications Laboratory (owns Cambridge Analytica) get contracts at the Pentagon after Trump was elected and Bannon was on the NSC?
10
won't be a bit surprised if this guy shows up working for trump sometime soon.
2
This Cambridge Analytica story and the suspension of Mr. Nix give off the very strong odor of rot at the core of the entire Bannon/Mercer/Trump enterprise. More, please.
4
The focus in any investigation should be on the Mercers. How many times I heard of the elusive, secretive Mercers, father and daughter? If they are hiding behind low-lifes like Nix and Bannon, they should be exposed for what they are. Wealthy but without any conscience.
6
Which side, exactly, supposedly runs a "deep state"?
The Mercers and Bannon created a deep, dark, corrupt tributary to the cesspool of American politics. All that money and subterfuge paying for dirty tricks in the pursuit of handing the presidency to a man so unfit that he cannot be said to be serving as president, but rather to be profaning the office and staining America's soul.........
These people are despicable.
3
This story has a big Jared Kushner connection.
Let’s dig into that a little.
3
Is there any way we can suspend the POTUS?
1
Obviously some people are immune to Psychology and therefore cannot be manipulated. Someone has to believe in my opinion, after all. Fox News told me so.
1
it easier to vote in Kansas than get rid of a Facebook account.
3
Not good enough! This "company" is a criminal organization. Changing the "Don" merely replaces one sociopath with another.
3
To quote the modern philosophers ACDC
"dirty tricks done dirt cheap'
Hey, I know Mercer is awash in funds, but really.....this while thing is so ...cheap.
Suspended?... What do you need to do to be fired?
Similar methods used by Russians to entrap Trump ?
1
scapegoating. They act without integrity until caught. It's creepy. They mine our data to figure out what we want to hear instead of telling us what they are actually planning to do. It's like the worst kind of boyfriend or girlfriend that just tells you what you want to hear so they can gain your trust and then take advantage of you. The worst.
FB clearly got in over their skis, by not monitoring anything on the site. That's on them. Cambridge, funded by the Mercers, is tied to Jared in a huge way, took advantage of FB's naiveté and targeted unknowing user's data. No way Trump didn't know about this....even if he can't read, he was told at a minimum from his son-in-law. And no way that this had no effect on the election.
2
"No way Trump didn't know about this".... well... if it was not on
Fox News... I'm thinking he might of not read the memo...
PEOPLE U HAVE POWER!!! please start the Exodus from Facebook to my space. ( yes Myspace is still in business)
2
They threw Nix under the bus as P.R. Cambridge Analytica did exactly what they wanted to do.
1
This just in: "Chicago mob suspends Al Capone". The Board of Directors of the Syndicate was shocked, shocked to learn that there was gambling going on and put the Boss on paid leaving pending a full investigation.
3
Is anyone foolish enough to vote for a candidate based on what someone stole from his or her Facebook entries? The lack of depth and critical thinking would have to be appalling. Don't you think?
Does anyone buy anything significant without a Consumer Reports search? The information and data is out there to make intelligent voting choices without being impacted by dark and mysterious forces.
Perhaps what we should focus on is our education system which should more effectively teach critical thinking. When political adds and other adds cross any of one's multiple screens it is time to get up and walk a bit. It is better for your health as well.
3
It is time to suspend Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.
1
why not shut down Facebook for a year...just think of all the productive work people could do ..
2
Now this is funny.
Nix got “OKeefed”.
Except is was true in this case.
Lets not forget Steve Bannon of the oddball Mercers have there dirty money all over the company. People who wave the American Flag as they attack the foundations of our Democracy. I hope Bannon and the Mercers are inversitagted. a cherry on the deplorable Trump Sundae.
2
Jared Kushner's father went to prison for doing exactly what Nix boasted to the undercover reporter of having done: arranging to have a rival for power seduced by a prostitute and using that transgression to damage him. In the Kushner case, the rival was actually another member of the Kushner family by marriage--Kushner Sr.'s own brother-in-law. So I guess kompromat begins at home.
3
"The company, founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer" - ROFL! They are suspending Nix for doing what they told him to do. Suspending Nix is scapegoating, plain and simple. The guilty parties here are Robert and Rebekah Mercer. Nix and Bannon are just underlings.
Ha ha, this is funny. Talk about throwing someone under the bus. This is a typical cover your hindquarters stunt, kind of like what Trump did to Bannon. Does anyone really believe that the C.E.O acted on his own, or that Cambridge Analytica is anything other than a propaganda / data (people) manipulation arm of the Mercers family. The C.E.O's only fault was getting caught confessing the companies sins on record. Our only hope to expose this company and Facebook's complicity in undermining democracies are the British parliament and U.S. State attorney generals. Trump & the congressional republicans will never step on Mercer's toes or show how social media like Facebook was manipulated for Trumps benefit.
2
Is the Mueller Investigation "connecting the dots", amongst others, between "alternative facts" promoter Kellyanne Conway, the Mercers, Steve Bannon, Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, WikiLeaks and, possibly, the Russians? Follow the money, big money!
3
So Steve Bannon used Robert Mercer's Wall Street money and crooked tactics through Facebook to dupe average Americans into thinking that a Trump White House would be a great idea? What a big surprise! Grow up people. Americans have no one to blame but ourselves. Bread and Circus.
3
Isn't CA a shell company with zero employees?
1
Cambridge Analytica is dead. Its deep-pockets patron, Robert Mercer, will immediately unplug this embarrassment. And its premier "product" is no "secret sauce" but a heap of garbage, something called "psychographic modeling" that was touted as having helped elect Trump but wasn't even employed in the 2016 election.
Cambridge Analytica appears to have just two remaining assets. The first is the theft of data boosted from FB with the aid of a professorial fraud who teaches in Russia to Russians. The second is the ability to gather garden-variety "kompromate," a Russian term that refers to compromising evidence of an often sexual or corrupt nature, used to extort prominent victims.
Tell me, is there anyone close to Trump's election who don't also have covert ties to Russia? Is there anything about his win or even his business that is on the up-and-up?
We've got no answers so we're left to wonder and worry, to anxiously follow the news and watch for Mueller's smoke signals. Trump claims he won the presidency with personal magnetism. Maybe it actually is psychographic, but I will say this about him: Never has one American politician managed to magnetically attract such a slimy and ruthless crowd of ill-intended people to do his bidding. And all Republican politicians who don't consistently denounce him will go down as the corrupt dupes that helped nearly (but, please God, not completely) undo this nation.
11
It is not so much their selling our "institutionalized voyeurism" I find appalling, one might say we have been asking for it, but rather the fact that FB has taken over so many reader comment sections of the media becoming the "passage obligatoire" to express one's opinion - a form of blackmail forcing one to be either "in" or silent.
10
Obama's was described as the"most data-driven campaign ever". Ever the astute politician, he was careful to keep his data mining shrouded in secrecy.
Did anyone in the media analyze or even question his data sources? Too busy fawning over his technical prowess.
2
Do you have any evidence of your implied outcome? The issue before us is Data Analytical and its quite obvious ties to the Trump campaign. The Trump campaign, his advisors, family and he himself are the most corrupt people ever in Washington. Evidence is mounting to back up that claim. Impeachment forthcoming.
3
Yeah, like suspending a company official will change anything
Don’t hold your breath waiting for investigation outcome
3
Russia or Britons of the Brexit persuasion.
Who meddled most in the 2016 Presidential election?
What is legal what is illegal here ? Every time you sign an agreement to use a website,app and so on, how much of your privacy have you given up ? Then there is also that you are being asked to allow the usage of your contacts.
As much as I like the web I can only hope the agreements I have okayed,
not signed, have done no harm to others. And above all else not opened door for their manipulation.
1
Not a particular surprise - CEO scapegoated while the company's 'black ops' activities go on. Founded by Mercer and Steve Bannon, and heavily involved in backing conservative and Republican politicians, at least in this country, and whomever will pay for their 'services' around the world, it seems that the dark-money conservative conspiracy that threatens our democracy is being exported worldwide as a money-maker by the founders. I'm sure that Robert Mercer and Steve Bannon knew *nothing* about any of this... yes, I believe that completely. And the Easter Bunny will bring me lots of candy soon, for being so good. Sorry, it looks like the shady propagandists who are actively manipulating America's public opinion on the sly are being found out - and the truth reveals that because their actual ideas are so weak, they need to try to deceive and manipulate the public to vote for their candidates. Russia doesn't even need to dive into America's politics and social networks to destabilize the country - we've got plenty of American Patriots who will do it worldwide for a profit. Slime, all of them. Nix is the scapegoat, but the company should be exposed and shut down, or forced out of business for election fraud and deceptive business practices.
4
This kind of explains a lot.
When Paul Manaforts Ukraine/ Moscow connections were first revealed 2 years ago, it was apparent that something was not normal here.
Now it all ties together as Facebook was exploited by an international consortium of the far right. From the far right to the Far East , let freedom fail, as our social natures are turned against us. Facebook should just go away, and take the Mercers, Russians, Trumps, Assanges, and other traitors along with em.
5
Here is a link to a rather informative August 2016 article about CA by Ann Marlowe:
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/211152/trump-data-anal...
Will Donald Trump’s Data-Analytics Company Allow Russia to Access Research on U.S. Citizens?
It "trac[es] the suspicious-looking, and messy, ties between a Ukrainian oligarch, an elections-information firm, and the GOP candidate’s former campaign manager."
Not too many of us noticed back then. But it is certainly hitting the fan now.
6
Thanks Joe. Sounds like you znd I noticed.
None of this should come as a surprise - sunlight is the best disinfectant.
What may be alarming for many is finally connecting the dots and viewing the full extent and degree of embeddedness of the formerly concealed intelligence infrastructure.
Social networking tools and techniques were developed and routinely used by the intelligence services for decades - until the geniuses figured out they could be spun-off into highly profitable businesses, with the data collection work crowd-sourced and the analysis outsourced.
All these technology companies are an essential and inextricable part of the intelligence services and will obviously have to continue to operate as intelligence platforms going forward - supporting a sprawling ecosystem of ancillary services providers.
All this means is there has to be even more transparency into the rules of the game - more explicit policy covering user consent, data access and use, and auditability.
The healthcare industry has been tackling these same issues for years - psychographic profiles may be viewed as simply an extension of protected health information.
The internet has been allowed to operate without adequate controls for far too long - this is long overdue and a welcome development if it leads to a broader regulatory overhaul globally.
But the fact remains that the Trump campaign was deliberately orchestrated partly to flush out all the white supremacists, Nazis and other vermin from their sewers. Mission accomplished.
2
Not good enough the company needs to taken to court.
1
Was he fired for what he did, or for getting caught?
1
The 2016 Presidential election is being shown to be rife with fraud and corruption. Furthermore, Comey interjected twice, to an overwhelming
detriment to Hillary Clinton. In any other venue, such a contaminated election would be voided. Impeachment? Not adequate!
If a world series team had injured the opposing team and had the referees on their side and had unfairly enhanced their normal abilities's, and they subsequently 'won'----If caught, said team would be disqualified and the other team would be declared the winner.
By all measures of fairness, President Dennison should be DQ'd and Hillary Clinton declared the winner.
1
Too bad that Paul Ryan and Mitch O'Connell don't have the integrity and ethical backbone that Claude Moraes puts forth in his comment regarding Cambridge's action.
1
For a seemingly savvy tech/data company...sure has taken them a minute to remove Mr Nix from the political page of their website. Also, the testimonials from various outlets are really creepy in that CA is almost bragging about the very thing that is going to be Mr Zuckerberg’s downfall. Lastly, the list of campaigns they worked on is outrageously hilarious...until you are unconsciously reaching for the Pepto Bismol. Political Tech Yech!
Nice phony reaction to Nix doing what he was paid to do. Facebook will finally get its reckoning.
1
Mr. Bannon and Mr. Mercer should be thoroughly investigated by the State Attorney General for the use of unauthorized and private Facebook information to elect the current Republican President and more than likely others. So unAmerican and so unPatriotic, a few of these miscreant millionaires and billionaires who believe they are above the law should be prosecuted to preserve our American system of democracy and values.
Save a Republic, Remove a Republican.
1
I believe that "used" is the key word here......millions and millions of dummies revealed themselves on Facebook and then had those revelations used against themselves and our political system. Shame on them. Shame on us. The KEY here is the question about what is being done, or will be done, to prevent a repeat in our future elections. I am not confident that we can or will cope........
2
For a long time, it's been obvious that Facebook is not about (and has never been about) Faces, Friends or Books.
3
Alexander James Ashburner Nix (age 42 years) should be tried by the Brits for messing around in their Brexit referendum, and when they get done, they can ship him over to us so we can try him for messing in our 2016 elections.
Then he can rot in British jail, while he waits to come back here for his sentence under US law (if he lives that long).
How about that, Nix? Was it worth it?
2
I think it is especially ironic that the man who used “fake news” to describe anything deviating from his claims and statements has now been caught using the most sophisticated “fake news” techniques to manipulate his “base”. His supporters will certainly believe that the revelations are nothing but “fake news” and continue to wear their MAGA hats! The damage created by the Trump team can not be overestimated and should be addressed appropriately in court.
2
Mind Control. The Holy Grail; from Freud's nephew Edward Bernays to Steven Bannon, to the CIA and their Psy-Ops.
Mind Control in the form of advertising, so pervasive and implacable; It has become Us. It's made the all of us ill. Ill health, mentally, physically, metaphysically.
When are we going to realize how rotten Advertising is and how absolutely corrupt with dark politics and graft-capitalism our lives have become? The Internet is filled with all sorts of sneaky stuff posing as some social good and Facebook is certainly one of them.
Mind control is a creepy subject but it's getting shoved down our throats now.
One interesting aspect of the story is that Cambridge Analytica is a UK firm -- and should have no business meddling in the results of the U.S. election. If they did, they broke UK laws as well.
1
Cambridge Analytica has New York City headquarters on 5th Ave as well. Rebekah Mercer (with Steve Bannon's involvement) has a Non-Profit "project" called Reclaim New York, which is tucked away in CA's NYC office. Another strange attempt from the Mercers to acquire financial data - this time from NY State town governments and school districts by getting disgruntled citizens to file Freedom of Information paperwork and then lawsuits if the paperwork is not released. All in an attempt to manipulate local politics in the state. Here is an interesting article from a reporter who attended one of their "recruitment meetings":
https://theberkshireedge.com/reclaim-new-york-mercer-funded-bannon-guide...
1
Why is everyone so bent out of shape by these disclosures? Are we shocked because this sort of spying and manipulation has now been demonstrated to have been done in the service of the crass profit motive?
The work being done by Cambridge Analytica is exactly the same thing as Admiral John Poindexter's Project Total Information Awareness circa 2013 and the work being done then and now by the National Security Agency. Remember that massive facility they built in Bluffdale, Utah? What did you think they needed that for?
Snowden says that Facebook is "a surveillance company." Of course they are. I've never had a Facebook account. If you have one, now's the time to jettison it and spend more time with your real friends in meatspace.
One does not have to invent conspiracies. They are reported on the front page of The New York Times and The Washington Post. The psychological mechanism that people use to protect their sense of well being is displacement -- the totalitarian impulse certainly isn't here, it is someplace else and trying to come here. Right? It is not here, it is out there, externalized, where it can be attacked. This is the essence of the paranoid mechanism.
In Germany, having learned the hard way, they have a privacy law that says all of your data and information belongs to you and that no one else can use it without your explicit written permission. Since going full Luddite probably isn't a realistic policy option, we need something like that here.
2
I just did to my Facebook account what Cambridge Analytical did to it´s CEO.
I Nix'ed it - permanently!
3
In secret recordings broadcast on Channel 4 Alexander Nix claimed credit for Trump's election: “We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting. We ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy.” Yet "many" inside the Trump campagin "disputed" the claim, because they have enough trouble already with Robert Mueller.
Nix also revealed how Cambridge Analytica's digital footprint was erased by using a self-destruct email server. After the incoming emails been read, two hours later, they were deleted. He also said how C.A. set up proxy organisations to feed untraceable messages on to social media.
This could have consequences: He mocked the investigation by the US House intelligence committee, to which he gave evidence in 2017, deriding its members, who are no technicians. He left the hearing after answering just three questions: “After five minutes – done.”
He scoffed at the Democrats, saying they were motivated by “sour grapes”.
He further boasted that C.A. could avoid any US investigation into its foreign clients, saying: “I’m absolutely convinced that they have no jurisdiction … We’ll say none of your business.”
It remains to be seen how Robert Mueller judges Nix's revelations, whether they would be relevant to his investigation.
3
This is complicated. Will the NYT run a story explaining the differences between the Obama campaign's use of Facebook data and the Trump campaign's? I'm having a difficulty time lining up all the agents, actions, laws, and potential legal and ethical violations.
10
In both cases FB are doing something that (in the UK) would be extremely dodgy and, at best, pushing against data protection law.
The Obama campaign did things that kept to FB guidelines and within the law
The Trump campaign deliberately stole data and broke FB guidelines. It broke UK law (if not also US law) and will likely end up with, at best, significant financial penalties.
Its not really that complicated. The Obama campaign recognised the law and kept within it. The Trump campaign ignored the law and did whatever they liked.
While the difference might closely reflect the different characters and attitudes of the two men it is not clear either were directly aware.
13
Your difficulty is in your not perceiving that two wrongs still don’t make a right.
Stop seeking equivalencies. They are usually false.
Anyone can purchase ad space on FB and political campaigns are no different. Under electoral regulations however, the advertiser (campaign or PAC) must be clearly identified.
The are numerous problems with CA's use of FB. First, they obtained the data through a third party under the guise of academic research. Next, the data was obtained by asking volunteers to answer quizzes. Unbeknownst to those volunteers, they were also giving SCL access to all their friends data. This is probably a serious breach of the FTC privacy act. FB is looking at mega fines for allowing this hence the drop in stock price.
Next, in their own words as captured on video, CA is quite happy to disseminate political propaganda, that they admitted could be outright lies, through social media anonymously. This is clearly illegal. Obama's campaign made heavy use of social media including FB but this was done openly and in accordance with campaign laws.
It is also illegal for PACs to coordinate with a campaign. Having Bannon set up CA and then run the Trump campaign (and the Mercers run both) is another clear violation of campaign laws.
Finally, the investigation into CA started because of its role in the Brexit campaign. It is suspected of contributing to the UKIP pro-leave campaign. Because CA is owned by the Mercers, this would mean foreigners had given support to a side in British referendum. Again, very illegal.
1
“It was not immediately clear what impact Mr. Nix’s resignation would have on the SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica.”
It’s a sham resignation
19
Oh yeah! The board was shocked -- shocked, I say -- to discover such perfidy. Who knew?
Though I'm not naturally inclined to it, but if Facebook is shut down or has it's reputation terminally damaged I will do one thing. Gloat!
"Facebook, I'd like you to meet some new friends. Here's AOL, and right next to him is Netscape. That chair past Netscape is free, why not sit down for the rest of eternity and get to know these fellows? You have a lot in common...now."
11
Instead of a suspension, how about he tries on a pair of handcuffs.
7
Agreed. The fellow described criminal acts on tape. He is no less a criminal than a Mafia don. Why has our culture evolved to allow all types of white collar criminal behavior to be "authorized" as legitimate business?
1
Suspension from what, exactly? As Carole Cadwalladr of The Guardian says, "...Cambridge Analytica exists only on paper. Alexander Nix is CEO of SCL Elections. From which he hasn't been suspended."
17
Why are Robert and Rebekah Mercer allowed to stay silent about this? They have caused so much harm in our country with their nefarious behavior. They spend their money empowering disreputable people to undermine our democracy and they have nothing to say about it? Why...! The spotlight of the press should be shined right in their faces and they should start answering for their activities instead of hiding behind people like Mr. Nix and Mr. Wylie.
36
Fully agree....hopefully the Mercers are in Mueller's cross- hairs.
2
The Mercers should be treated as a threat to the constitutional order of this great country.
2
Facebook should lean OUT of our elections! What makes them any better than the Russian troll farms, Cambridge Analytica, and Wikileaks when it comes to undermining the credibility of our elections and national political discourse? It's absurd that Mark Zuckerberg apparently is thinking of running for President, when it's clear that his and Facebook's affiliation is with the global community of dredging peoples' personal information to increase ad revenues. How tawdry it is for Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and their fellow Facebook execs to trash their country just to sell more ads.
14
He is thinking of running for POTUS because he has the finger on the pulse of the whole world.
Now he will have to change his plans, though.
If Cambridge Analytica was started by Robert and Rebekah Mercer, with assistance from that paragon, Steve Bannon, then I would suspect that the entire outfit is as crooked as the day as long. So what if they suspended Nix; the whole company should go down the tubes. It exists in order to sow discord, disinformation, and to traitorously disrupt the democratic process even more than it is disrupted already.
15
I do not understand why these people do not care that Russia is the beneficiary of their actions.
8
Perhaps Mr. Mueller is asking himself the same thing right now...
They are oligarchs or oligarch wannabes.
Kind of like wearing the alligator on your shirt hoping to join the country club.
A winning election strategist like Mr, Nix of Oxford Analytica cannot be wasted. Who knows? He could be the winning card for the Democratic party's candidate in 2020.
1
Right .... It was all Mr. Nix's fault! Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group have a lot of explaining to do in the coming months. I'm sure that Jared was more than happy to avail ALL the services of said companies and some we don't even know about for the Trump campaign. AND it's about time the real spotlight is put on Steve Bannon who can't be given a pass when he refuses to answer.
Robert and Rebecca Mercer are now in the mix too. Did Mercer pay Russia from his yacht when it was 'parked' next to Derispeska's yacht?
This could be the tip of the iceberg as far as the 'No Collusion' part of the investigation goes.
Mr. Nix will land somewhere else where his skill set is admired. Russia? Or Trump's 2020 campaign? He knows Brad Pascale well.
5
Political campaigns have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on TV advertising, some of which is misinformation at best -- and both sides of the aisle in this last POTUS election 2016 utilized fake "friends" and "likes" on Facebook. People were trying to guess, for instance, what percentage of Hillary Clinton's "friends" were paid Koreans. They also used click-bait to get you over to support pages on FB. We are not going to have fair elections until we get $$$$$$$$$ out of the mix. We should all scream for public-funded elections and tell the federal lobbyists, millionaires and billionaires to take a hike. Right now, our elected lawmakers spend more than half of every day in office fundraising for the "party" and re-election.
3
Mark Zuckerberg ought to be hauled unceremoniously before both the British Parliament and the US Congress and subjected to the best methods used by Captain Bligh, keelhauling. What a supercilious and sanctimonious fellow he is. How many years can they arrange for him to sit in a British jail and then in an American jail, so he can count all his money in peace?
5
"...allegations do not represent the values or operations of the firm..."
It's ok, I think we already have a pretty good idea of your firm's values, which would very likely reflect the values of its esteemed founders, Bannon and Mercer.
Traitors comes to mind.
7
Nix was doing just what the founders of the company wanted him to do. Bannon and Mercer want to burn the world down, and that was what Nix was working to do. He just became inconvenient when he got caught executing the master plan.
2
No individual has to be on Facebook at all and certainly does not have to divulge personal information.
2
There's that now quaint concept of personal responsibility again. Blaming is so much more gratifying.
So... One out at Facebook, one out at CA. Let's hope these are not just sops: that there is more to come - including actually helping to PROTECT our data...and the democratic process.
1
How can it be legal for Facebook... to allow me... to accept permission to give away my friends personal information without asking my friends for their permission to give away their information? How can it even be legal for Facebook and Google... to sell, or share, anyone's personal information?
3
If the Democrats ever get a majority, the first legislation that should passed is to get rid of dark money, PACs, unlimited contributions. Even John McCain wanted get rid of dark money.
4
FB, which began as a format for rating college women's looks, always seemed to feel they should be able to do anything that served their bottom line because users weren't paying them. Ironically, that they were making hundreds of billions only seemed to embolden their attitudes.
7
Please, please, please journalists and essayists follow up by asking PUBLICLY some pointed questions: Cambridge Analytica says that they deleted all that Facebook data in 2015. If that's true, what data did they have that was worth $6M from Trump's campaign in 2016? Where did they get the data they needed for tailoring their messages in Wisconsin (for instance) if Facebook did not provide it?
23
Well... that's the good news...
" Where did they get the data they needed for tailoring their messages in Wisconsin (for instance) if Facebook did not provide it?"
All that data came from YOU... think of FB as a filing cabinet... and we all put
all of our stuff in it... but FB owns the filing cabinet.. and also everything in it... and we (YOU) filed it right up for them... and then FB sells copies of it to anybody with money... That's the FB business model... you give them stuff and then they sell it... and then you do as you're told and vote for who i think
you should vote for..
Given that CA was founded by Steve Bannon & Robert Mercer, we can expect belligerent, disrespectful and likely unethical behavior from the ground up.
44
CA's admission of guilt.
4
Watch the hidden camera footage collected by UK's Channel 4 news if you need any more evidence of just how craven this man is.
26
Note Nix is suspended.
Not fired.
Disgusted.
37
Well, I doubt very much he did anything without the boards approval and knowledge. Firing him would make him free to tell his story. Suspending him will keep him quiet until they have shuffled all the money they can extract from the company into their pockets.
3
He is head of a new Mercer business now. You can see where this is going. CAs staff and materiel will be stripped from CA leaving a husk when the authorities come. Meanwhile, 2018 will be brought to you by another Mercer shell company.
6
Yes. 4 days ago, on March 16, 2018 Rebekah Anne Mercer and Jennifer Mercer were both appointed as directors of Emerdata Limited.
On August 11, 2017, the company Emerdata Limited was incorporated in the U.K., and listed SCL Chairman Julian Wheatland as Director and 25–50% owner, and Cambridge Analytica Chief Data Officer, Alexander Tayler, was also listed as 25–50% owner. Both have since been removed as significant owners, but Wheatland is listed as an active Director, along with Alexander Nix, the Chief Executive of Cambridge Analytica. Source: Wendy Siegelman at Medium.com
1
Lots of dirty tricks, yes.
But its Facebook that SELLS personal info - they are the guilty party.
9
Actually.... FaceBook has done nothing wrong... It's in the "terms of service"
page that you did not read... FB owns everything you post to your FB page...
even that cat picture you posted... They can do whatever they want cause
YOU gave then permission the day you signed up... and they did....
1
Everything's going to be hunky dory. The bad guy is gone. Move along, nothing to see here.
3
and Bannon exits stage right. The man knows when to leave a party anyway. This is all so despicable.
15
In response to Facebook's and to Cambridge Analyitca's claims that the information of the 50 million users' information used in this project has been totally deleted, I have two words:
Thumb drive.
15
Well... think bigger... much bigger.... like terabytes bigger....
Like Amazon Web Services Bigger... and it's 230 million users...
cause why take a sample when you can take the whole pie...
(it's actually easier and faster to take all of it than to start
slicing up pieces...)
1
I don't get it. Why don't they just blame Russia?
5
After all the guy to whom FB handed over all that information was a Russian , a fact not mentioned in this article
1
I hope the justice department pursues the Mercers to the fullest extent allowable.
20
Well... let me think... Elmer Fudd (Sessions) going after the Mercers...
like that will Ever happen...
exactly.
1
Fake damage control. This "company" is over.
6
They will just change the name and start again, this time with a track record for messing with elections.
1
"The Board" are just a bunch of co-conspirators, and I look forward to seeing them all bankrupt and in prison.
16
You do know that they had a 5 million dollar payday.. right??
and they managed to get their boy elected president.. right??
and november 2018 is rolling around.. right??
( it's called a FALL guy... you throw someone under the bus..
then bring in the next front man to run the show..)
Just read on Axios that CA has developed self-deleting emails and deliberately runs its campaigns so that the candidate can deny any of its wrongful doings. 'No collusion!' as repeated ad nauseam by Mr. Trump would make sense in this context.
19
Who, seriously, is surprised by the “revelation” that Facebook mines and exploits the personal data of its members for one sole purpose, money. That’s its business model, afterall, and always has been. Google “Facebook and privacy” and you will see dozens of stories about the difficult of setting privacy settings, tracking users, eavesdropping, etc. The constant virtue signaling of Zuckerberg and Ms. Lean In is just smoke and mirrors; they are really lulling the public into volunteer their personal information, tastes and preferences and behind the scenes selling it to the highest bidder, no matter how pernicious the bidder’s purposes or designs. Trump was not the first to do this. In 2012 this paper ran a story on the “Optimizer”, a computer consultant who mined social media data to find the “low information voters” and urge them to vote for Obama. I don’t have a facebook account and never will. I don’t trust them with my data, my photos, pictures of my family (we forbid or daughter to post any family pictures on FB). Recall the recent story on their use of facial recognition software? Its not about being connected or six degrees of separation or whatever, Its about profiling you and brokering you to whoever pays them the most. It is disgusting.
12
Thank you, thank you, thank you, shirleyjw. Your single comment has more information and insight than the last ten articles published on this subject.
3
Well... cause you brought it up... ever do a Google search??
do you know what a "Cookie " is?? Use an IP address??
do you have a "smart Phone" with an IMEI number in it??
ever used public WI-FI?? well... nothing to see... move along..
Cause that's how FB tracks people without a FB account...
Hey FB, How much revenue did FB make selling this type of data product in 2015-2016? What incentives do you offer employees to sell this data? That will tell the real story.
No one should be surprised that FB makes a large portion of their revenue by providing personal information to companies in order to help them to create tools/ads to influence individuals to make decisions to buy products/form an opinion. Every app/data company makes revenue off selling your personal data. It’s not political. It’s about making money. This is less surprising than finding out Santa isn’t real.
4
Funny you should ask... about 40 Billion a year selling info
about you... and Mark Z. just sold 1.2 million shares last
month for some spending money... (You understand that FB's
only income is selling information about it's users..)
given what we know about Mercer and Bannon, it's not believable they didn't know about the shady and illegal operations of Cambridge Analytical. Taking everything that has been going on with this (a Russian connection), the election interference, the poisoning, hacking in the U.S., and aggressive military action including the use of chemical weapons in Syria, more drastic steps need to be taken with Russia. An appropriate one would be to cut Russia off from all Western Internet, except for one channel that would broadcast Radio Free Russia.
9
Mr. Rosenberg - Please tell us who the board members are at CA and who the officers of the company are? You say Mercer poured 15Mil into the company, so he sounds like the owner. Is Bannon still involved and if not, when did he depart?
What are the legal implications and penalties for Americans being involved with using a foreign company to influence a US election?
15
"What are the legal implications and penalties for Americans being involved with using a foreign company to influence a US election?"
Well.... nothing... ask trump... he said it's all fake news....
Sorry... trying to be funny... no actual laws were broken...
It's not against the law for an american to do that...
But... big problem if a non american did it...
perfect scapegoat for the Mercer family.
7
Mercer and Bannon are responsible for this. They must face the music.
18
And what music will that be?
There really are no penalties for the misuse of personal information that is released by Facebook that I am aware of.
I do find it interesting that just a few years ago, the Obama campaign was heralding the use of Facebook information for the entire US, not just 50 million, as one of the reasons they won the 2012 election. It really can help organizing at the grass roots level if you have specific information on everyone in the US.
Eventually, we will get laws that allow us to control the use of our personal information by companies.
Will this scandal be enough to get Congress going?
False equivalency much?
1
CEO suspended? Yeah. Right.
8
This company makes a business of corrupting governments. Their business plan is to enable rich people to corrupt the government at a minimum of cost and inconvenience to them. And this shameless and disgraceful misconduct is legal?
26
Well... yes... cause corporation are people too... (NOT)...
Good by Facebook, cat pictures and all. The United States unfriends you.
19
Facebook is a right wing propaganda tool. Shut it down before it destroys our country and pass privacy protection laws before it starts up again.
12
Well... you do know that the "Left Wing" also uses FB....
Obama won using targeted marketing just like Trump....
The power of videotape makes this the cat they can't put back in the bag no matter how CA tries to spin it. And if they say they were just puffing up their accomplishments, they leave themselves open to the question: 'Were you lying then or are you lying now?"
8
Proof of how the disgusting Mercer family has been trying to undermine democracy with their unlimited $$$ They are just criminals, plain and simple, but have enough connections and grease all over them to slide out of it. SHAME ON THEM. The vote box awaits. They cannot buy us off.
25
Mr. Nix needs to have a come to Jesus with Mr. Mueller. Would love to be a fly on that wall.
6
Yes, Cambridge misused the data, and yes, Nix is a contemptible life form. But really, people, why are you giving your souls away to Zuckerberg in the first place? He's using you to make himself rich. Thanks, we can go to the Trump family mafia for that kind of treatment.
12
Trying to save their company from death by outrage. Just like the Weinstein Company. Didn’t work so well ...
6
Everything Mercer and Bannon touch seem to turn bad. Why is that, do you think?
3
Shut the place down. It's a criminal enterprise.
7
Congratulations to the UK and shareholders of Cambridge Analytica for being disgusted and frightened I imagine by the filth that NIX stood for. He more than Russia even tried to infiltrate and skew the American election in favour of Trump. One must ask "how come the idiot who campaigned to drain the swamp was so cheered on and pushed into power by such lowlifes." The wealthy Americans & Bannon who chose this despicable company to run Trump's campaign. The Company which made up the phrase "Crooked Hillary", like John Flynn's "Lock Her Up." And this latter pathetic person now reasserts himself into US politics. First how come all these foreign companies or countries (Russia) are running an American election? Second, how could these operatives come to the US and work at all? I think their visa status (some of the underlings who did this campaign and at times in the US) must be examined. Drain the swamp, Donald...and especially your handlers, the Mercers. I hope for the Mercers a nice prosecution down the line.
7
"The Board" suspends Nix but does not fire him? As if that means anything? How could "the board" of such this nefarious racket be legitimate? Who appointed them? The entire operation is a bucket of snakes.
Eric T. Schneiderman has his work cut out for him, yet again, and the money trail leads past Nix, past Bannon, and straight to the Mercers who funded this sinister propaganda machine.
14
Who is the "board" of CA? Names, please.
10
Mercer and Bannon and their edgy Tina friends are now on the radar AGAIN. Let's resurrect Göbles.
2
Great news. When can we expect charges against the Mercers and Bannon?
12
if this is the new incarnation of the Grand Trump Conspiracy Theory, when can we expect charges against every Democrat who ever used data-mining services and ad agency tactics to push their candidates? Or are we to believe Democrats never ever ever use data-mining services no different than this one? No, really. Not even Hillary. And if data mining to ascertain people's psychological needs and wants is a crime, when are we going to see mass arrests and the shut down of every Madison Avenue ad agency?
3
Data mining is difficult and expensive and less comprehensive than having FB simply hand over 50 million entire user accounts to a Russian “ “researcher “ who happened to work for CA.
Probably when Madison Avenue adds a side business of blackmail and prostitution.
Imagine how shocked -- SHOCKED! -- Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer must have been to learn about the shady business practices of their hireling, Alexander Nix...
6
And the sleaze goes on.
6
The man is caught on tape bragging about hiring hookers to entrap and smear candidates and he's not fired. Class organization.
5
So... they are going to make Nix the public scapegoat, and that let's them off the hook? Little slap on the wrist with a nice severance package, perhaps?
Meet for martinis later?
3
That's like the Godfather telling the Capo to ditch the Runner. What about the Godfather Mercers? The Capo Bannon?
Cambridge Analytica is a blackshirt gang intent on lighting all the matches they can find in democratic countries, paving the way for Putin world domination.
Get the leaders now, before they can run off to their hole-in-the-wall and rearm.
6
How hard can it be to connect the dots: an alt-right presidential campaign advisor • a Trump-loving billionaire • an irresponsible social media monopoly—or two • an office full of Russians trying to figure out where to send their chaos-filled messages. Yes, no proof yet, but it's taking less and less imagination.
19
It took a whistleblower, the New York Times and a stellar undercover investigation by ITN/Channel 4 to bring Cambridge Analytica's spooky psychographic modeling techniques into the mainstream conversation surrounding outside meddling in our nation's electoral system. While it's true manipulation has always been a political tool in U.S. campaigns, this news exposes the abject vulnerablities in the process itself. Facebook essentially handed off vast swaths of U.S. voter psychological profiles to Cambridge Analytica, which then figured out those people’s deepest fears, sorted them into tribes of like or similar minded individuals, then exploited and inflamed U.S society's deepest ugly prejudices—all for money that earned Donald Trump votes. What’s most chilling of all, as history now shows us, this high tech game of manipulation worked.
21
So CA was playing both sides of the election potentially, pushing the Crooked Hillary line for the elephants while selling them out potentially for some big $ from the Russians. Class. Act. #takethemoneyandghost
When you have no integrity, you don't have to worry about conflicts of interest I suppose.
7
Not to worry, Cambridge Analytica will appoint Rep. Devin Nunes to "investigate" this even though Nunes has already concluded that nothing happened involving Trump or his campaign. He will instead blame the FBI for it.
5
Its astonishing that so many people who use the internet, especially social media, do not understand that online companies harvest and share the data that you put out there.
This company was in the data collection and resale business long before Trump, but of course the whole story is spun as if it were all his idea. You folks do know that the Obama campaign bragged about its massive data collection and profiling during the election of 2012... right? Maxine Waters boasted about it, saying the new practice would make the Democratic party invincible.
Unless you can prove that Facebook blackmailed or brainwashed their users into voting for Trump, you have no story. If you put it online, they are off the hook.
6
So you’re saying the Democrats somehow got through FB user’s privacy settings to mine data? You
Don’t seem to get the difference here. Complete access was given to
The accounts of 50 million people with disregard for their privacy settings.
We should be glad that Facebook gave us Trump. He will get us the best health care possible. Period!
1
When you hire a fall guy you need to pay him well. I'ld like to ask the guy what his interest in the Medallion fund looks like today. With all the analytical power of Cambridge how is Mercer going to lie about his inability to know anything. This is how the world turns out in Head of the Harbor, NY.
1
Nix nixed. Now we need Trump trumped.
10
I feel the following two paragraphs need more emphasis and should be moved ahead of the bit about "a new low point." The article currently reads as though this suspension is consequential, or even, as others have characterized it, ethical; when it appears that this is simply posturing from Cambridge Analytica / SCL Group. I imagine they're getting a kick out of this headline.
"It was not immediately clear what impact Mr. Nix’s resignation would have on the SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica. The companies were set up with a convoluted corporate structure, and their operations are deeply intertwined.
Mr. Nix, for instance, holds dual appointments at the two companies. Cambridge Analytica is registered in Delaware and almost wholly owned by the Mercer family, but it is effectively a shell — it holds intellectual property rights to its psychographic modeling tools, yet its clients are served by the staff at London-based SCL and overseen by Mr. Nix, who is a British citizen."
2
Goebbels and Orwell would love this.
8
Facebook, Google and other online services we depend on are not the only places hoovering up information about us to sell to big data companies. Stores that provide discounts with loyalty cards, particularly grocery and drug store chains, are collecting information on us to sell as well, including what food and drugs we put into our bodies. I have never been comfortable giving up my privacy for a discount, in fact, it feels like a kind of tax for keeping my privacy.
3
What Robert Mueller really needs to find out is who’s not tampering with our election. When you throw your wallet out onto the sidewalk, up for all to grab by anyone but going to whoever is quickest, like Democracy is, whoever doesn’t try is the mensch. Those are really ones we should be paying attention to instead of the thieves who usually dominate the front page. I’m tired of only negative stories, it’s depressing.
And that's why I have always refused to use facebook (or, as we know it, fartbook).
2
Let's be clear here: Facebook doesn't steal our data; we give it to them, one Like at a time.
For decades, Europe has had a Data Protection Directive that runs circles around the U.S.'s, such as it is--and it's about to get even stronger with the GDPR, which will improve user control over our own data.
Instead of Americans spewing moral outrage at the weekly corporate affront (last week Experian, this week Facebook, next week who knows), why not grow up and demand a national approach to data protection?
82
This wasn't about people that voluntarily giving up their data. If you install an app or click on a link that on you. But what Cambridge did, was also go into the profiles of friends. They didn't choose to take this survey. That's where the moral outrage comes about--you don't get to decide what information I provide.
19
Oh but they DO get to decide, Matt! It says it right in the fine print that nobody reads because we are all in such a hurry to get to the fun stuff that we just click past it, and because we've been brainwashed into thinking that the Private Sector is trustworthy and the Government is not.
The advertising model hasn't changed since its inception: if you're paying for the product, you're the client; if it's free, you're the product.
4
Maybe consumers gave FB their data, but they did not give Experian their data and have no control over whether it is collected. One does not have to use FB -- I don't because of exactly these privacy concerns -- but that means one misses out on a number of worthwhile opportunities that have moved to FB, including some political organization.
1
Cambridge Analytics was founded for the purposes that it achieved--spreading misinformation and sowing discord to elect a President who would serve the radical ideology of the firm's creators and donors. The only "problem" here is that this operation finally got caught--a little bit-and far, far too late.
47
Thank you! The most concise and eloquent description of CA that I have read.
Trump has made a very big deal that the Clinton's campaign retained the services of the firm Fusion GPS that hied Christopher Steele, who compiled the dossier.
Meanwhile Jared Kushner, Trump's son in law, contracted with Cambridge Analytica a British firm that scooped up profiles of 50 million Facebook users by falsely claiming academic purposes. Cambridge Analytica categorized Facebook users according to past posts and likes, and then directed users into a web of sites hosting disinformation (propaganda).
Some (mucho of the dossier has been confirmed.
The Cambridge Analytica gambit was active disinformation warfare.
61
50 million FB users? There is a chance you were one of them. Doesn't sound like you voted for Trump. So I guess it wasn't that effective. And I would wager the people who voted Trump or Hillary, for that matter) would have done the same no matter what FB said.
3
Nothing about me without me.
I AM my data and so I own it. I should decide who gets it and for what purposes.
11
Yes, you should. So don't put it on the internet. Otherwise you have no grounds to complain that a bunch of strangers know you live in New Hampshire and that your name is Kathleen. If I want to target women in New England who might have concerns about privacy, you just helped me do that.
See how this works?
Where is Facebook board member (and one of the earliest investors) Peter Thiel in all this?
He runs a company -- Palantir -- which specializes in data mining! And he was a big Trump donor. And invested in Facebook (and presumably saw the "possibilities") long before most people.
Are we supposed to believe he had no idea what was going on? What was his opinion when Facebook was misleading the public about how their data was used?
115
I agree...the way Facebook has acted doesn't bode well for their reputation. Makes me believe they akin to a small business acting as a front for a drug operation: .a social networking offering up the front.........a data factory out the back of the shop.
18
And who are the Board members of Cambridge Analytica and its parent company SCL?
3
What is anything criminal in what Cambridge Analytica and Facebook did ?
They harvested information that FB users voluntarily posted on the internet --
unless ingenuity has become a crime nowadays.
The establishment politicians consider FB and CA as their foes because these companies empower transparency, which makes a politician's life difficult.
Wish these politicians were as concerned about Equifax's breach. But then that did not affect any votes, only affected our lives.
5
Votes don't affect lives,what rock... We have 320 million people plus the future of the free world. A company stole information to work a loophole created by the Constitution to circumvent democracy. So we are in $1.5-$2 trillion dollars greater in debt because of it. Can't even start at negative impacts to our country. Equifax was nothing in comparison. Corruption is rampant in Washington since 1/20/17. It has been rampant in the Republican Party since big money makes all the decisions & not voters. So Sad.
7
Cambridge Analytica empowers transparency by planting phony stories about politicians while hiding the source of those stories? I don't think so.
Then you tell me I have to choose between objecting to Equifax's betrayals, objecting to Facebook's, or objecting to Cambridge Analytica's? Sorry: I don't think that makes much sense, either.
7
The information was gained by lies (that it was for academic purposes) from those who agreed, and information was harvested from thousands more, who never agreed to anything.
5
Nix is a classic scapegoat and irrelevant the real crimes. For that you need to look no further than Mercer and Bannon. If any of these crimes happened state side, I would look for RICO charges against CA, and founders.
86
Zuckerberg is right up there as well.
According to The Times' reporting, CA is a US shell company for SCL, the original British company bought by Mercer. Your dream is nearer to realization than you imagined.
Because it will not happen here I would like to see the British have Bannon and Mercer publicly answer charges of violating British law about interfering with other governements.
This situation demonstrates clearly that the current system in the United States for safeguarding private data is fatally flawed, and a system like that in the EU should be adopted, including the substantial penalties for breaching user privacy.
69
And Nix's replacement, Alexander Tayler, was also recorded offering up the company's dirty tricks to the undercover reporter. What should that tell us?
100
Nix said he wished he'd never gone to the meeting [where he was secretly filmed], but there's a big difference between wishing and doing.
16
The simple fact is that the Trump campaign used a massive amount of fraudulently obtained private data about US citizens to change the outcome of the presidential election.
For the few of us who still believe in the rule of law, I say: lock ‘em up!
97
Agreed. Cambridge Analytica marketing claims (paraphrased): "Better audience targeting powered by smarter data modeling: up to 5,000 data points per person on over 220 million Americans; more than 100 data variables to target audience groups and shape the behavior of like-minded people. With our comprehensive range of analytics and engagement services, clients can use our behavioral microtargeting to control every aspect of audience engagement--by building crucial information flows and behavioral connections where it counts. We are game changers who deliver smart solutions and produce real results. "We're extremely proud of the work we were able do to in collaboration with the (Trump) campaign." Press release quote.
2
"Mr. Nix’s recent comments secretly recorded by Channel 4 do not represent the values or operations of the firm." Really? The man who establishes the company's values and heads its operations doesn't represent the firm's values or operations? Good to know.
165
His replacement who served as Trump's chief data scientist lead is equally ethicly challenged. The CA beat goes on.
3
And who are the Board members?
1
We know the facts. Collusion and crimes. We saw the tape. They should collapse in a pile with Facebook.
32
To date no hard core evidence Russia hacked but hard core evidence that Facebook Surveillance was mined for Trump advantage. "Hacking" inside job all along.
6
Facebook will undoubtedly bounce back from this episode but for what it's worth, as a gift to my country (and myself) I've deleted my account. As to Mr. Nix, perhaps Martin Shkrelli is breathing a sigh of relief. There's a new despicable in town.
18
Permanently deleted my Facebook account too. Maybe gets their attention if everybody does it.
9
And as always, nothing will change. It's business as usual.
Never mind. Forgotten already. On to the next scandal.
6
I am tired of the media saying Cambridge "misused" data. What they did was steal data they had not right to and to violate the terms of their agreement. People should be going to jail over this. While I fault FB for their inadequate response, and they should be held liable, we must not overlook the real crimminal here. Further, this is probably not the only violation. There are almost certainly others who have committed similar crimminal acts.
52
Yes, but FB knew of the problem since 2015, sad nothing and did nothing to prevent this from happening again.
Could this indicate possible collusion? Wasn't Kushner the go to guy for Trump's media campaign? Nothing to see here.
I am sure it is all easily explained.
15
It's only easy to explain if they tell the truth.
Please. The heart of the wrongdoing is Cambridge Analytics, and its utter lack of ethics, not its CEO. Cambridge Analytics should have fired itself.
21
Based on the reporting, Cambridge Analytica baited people into filling out questionnaires and subsequently accessed their personal data as well as that of all their friends. This means the company exploited personal data that it should not have been able to access in the first place. Facebook also owes the public an explanation.
Between companies exploiting people's personal data for nefarious purposes and the 2010 Citizens United decision that has allowed unlimited political spending by interest groups, ordinary Americans are losing our influence in the nation's so-called democracy.
20
How many elections have they already tilted and what must we do to prevent this in the future? Are there connections to Russian Troll farms? Take down the apparatus, make sure history doesn't repeat itself. Even if it means re-structuring FB and other tech platforms, do it; this is a dagger pointed at the heart of democracy.
7
The irony of a man that uses entrapment tactics to record undercover videos of people and then release them on the internet being taken down by undercover videos that were posted on the internet...
46
Always suspected some big power was behind ISIS, they had too much money, and now we find out Israel was involved with CA and shame on the UK and its spy agencies who are connected. A full investigation will reveal the real puppet masters behind terrorism around the world and how these powers and groups are wreaking havoc including interfering in democratic elections around the world. Its the worst of the worst and Trump is associated with it. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
8
Thank you, Channel 4 reporters! Your work was a public service. Keep it up, please.
97
Can you imagine reporters in the US doing something like this?
What is being ignored and not reported is the legal fact that users have no rights over their data once entered into FB. FB owns all user data, pure and simple, by virtue of the EULA. That is how FB makes money, because they own all the data users provide and harness that data for profits by selling it to 3rd parties. That is clearly the business model of FB but the consequences of that are just coming into view. I think that once people understand this, FB will be doomed.
18
A major element of this story is that the Federal Trade Commission "announced" an investigation of Facebook. It did absolutely nothing of the kind.
5
Even Marco Rubio showed up to face the Parkland students. Why can't Mark Zuckerberg show up and face government regulators? Man up, dude.
15
Did CA share the FB profiles and the data harvesting tool with the Russians? It’s certainly something Mueller should look at, especially given Bannon’s involvement.
11
People need to go to jail, not merely get a golden handshake. Cambridge Analytica people (including Bannon and Mercer), Facebook managers, and Trump campaign staff should all be investigated for possible criminal charges.
You can bet that the G.O.P. won't touch this with a ten-foot pole. They remain silent and hope it all blows over so they can continue their program of dismantling the social safety net, trashing the environment and enriching the 1%.
59
The GOP is probably using similar methods to get the lower income folks to reliably vote against their interests by voting for the GOP.
What you just watched and heard us do "doesn't represent our values."
Wasn't that what Fox News said last week? And what the Republican Party says pretty much every other week? At this point, they're just trolling us. We know their values all too well. We may not all be data scientists (or political mafioso). But nor are we fools.
12
Here is The Guardian story running today.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/20/cambridge-analytica-exec...
"Senior executives from the firm at the heart of Facebook’s data breach boasted of playing a key role in bringing Donald Trump to power and said they used “unattributable and untrackable” advertising to support their clients in elections, according to an undercover expose.
Cambridge University asks Facebook for evidence about role of academic
In secretly recorded conversations, Cambridge Analytica’s CEO, Alexander Nix, claimed he had met Trump “many times”, while another senior member of staff said the firm was behind the “defeat crooked Hillary” advertising campaign.
“We just put information into the bloodstream of the internet and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again over time to watch it take shape,” said the executive. “And so this stuff infiltrates the online community, but with no branding, so it’s unattributable, untrackable.”"
The Guardian (more or less the same as The Observer) has had really good reporting on this and has featured it far more prominently than the US press.
It is free to read, I urge everyone to follow their leads.
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Any proof trump met nix many times? Worth a big look. Kindred spirits...
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"His comments do not represent the values or operations of the firm."
?????
They EMBODIED the PURPOSE of the firm.
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We are well and truly in a post truth era. Nix is clearly taped offering - unbidden - all of the several nefarious services his company now claims were words taken out of context. After Trump we find ourselves more and more confronted with situations where people feel utter impunity to simply lie publicly and brazenly, regardless of the obviousness of the truth to all.
This is what Trump has done to the fabric of America and perhaps the world. Utterly amazing what one amoral buffoon can accomplish when he puts his tiny little mind behind it.
If we don't find way to claim back the truth, we are simply lost.
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Can these trump enablers stoop any lower, and I'm not speaking of Nix, Bannon and Mercer. Facebook is involved with Russian meddling in our elections and now this with Analytica. One has to wonder what other secrets they are hiding in Silicon Valley all in the name of greed and profits. Clearly the need for oversight by an independent government agency to both regulate their actions and to determine what else they have compromised in our democracy is in order as Zuckerberg and Sandberg are solely motivated by greed. How many more billions do you need Mr. Zuckerberg, how many more walled compounds in Hawaii? No one on the planet safeguards his personal data as much as you do. Why the double standard?
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Judging by the comments in other stories related to this topic, I suspect many NYT readers are going to be rather unpleasantly surprised by where all this leads as they learn more about this.
There aren't going to be many winners coming out of this.
We're just starting to pull on a thread here, and many, many things are going to unravel.
This is extraordinary.
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Time to get off Facebook! A massive FB walkout would be the best way to send a message to Sandberg and Zuckerberg. Just google 'How to get off FB'. Its a quick, easy process.
Mr A. Nix even says himself it‘s horrendous to say that „these things don‘t need to be true“. How can such a person look in the mirror?
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Why? Didn't he do his job? Or, is it that he got caught doing his job?
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The company should be banned in America and charges should be brought upon them. The Americans involved from Trump or his campaign using the info should be charged with whatever applies. Crimes Against the United States is one.
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Cambridge Analytica board didn’t know the range of services it offered as described by its multiple executives? I am so glad to see they are finally done- I hope the Mercers are held responsible for any wrongdoing identified through investigations.
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Well, they are certainly now well-connected to Mueller's investigation.
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This is scary stuff, Big Brother is watching stuff. I can see now how Trump has been able to recruit a base of largely uneducated people that love him and hate all things American. I assume the NRA uses the same tactics to increase gun sales. The only defense against this kind of manipulation is education. However, Betsy DeVos will make sure the only thing public schools will be good for is either prep school for prision or job training for tasks that do not require thinking.
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They’re shooting the wrong guy. Let’s not settle for having the Cambridge CEO take the fall for those orchestrating and directing inappropriate or illegal activity that enabled election meddling, if not outright colluded to rig the election.
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"...It added: “The board will be monitoring the situation closely, working closely with Dr. Tayler, to ensure that Cambridge Analytica, in all of its operations, represents the firm’s values and delivers the highest-quality service to its clients.” "
The firm's values were very well represented in the bar interview.
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The Left better be very careful in its condemnation of Facebook, Google, et.al. Up to this point these media engines have been the best friends of Clinton, Comey, Obama and the other lapdogs of the Ruling Class. Congressional regulation would mean assigning a watchdog to ensure that Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are prevented from closing conservative websites and platforms, and who would force Twitter et.al reopen conservative sites. All because conservatives just showed that data mining and "Big Data" is not the exclusive tool of liberals.
Cambridge Analytica is the alarm clock going off that we all need to wake up to what is happening to our freedoms. Our personal data has been stolen and used to influence our minds. That should be a federal offense.
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Mr. Nix was dismissed for representing Cambridge Analytica. Does anyone have any doubts that the sales pitch he gave to his perspective clients wasn't exactly what he intended to deliver? Oh right, the rogue CEO.
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Is this "conspiracy"? Whatever it may be, the CEO isn't the only one who is responsible.
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I don't care. What I care about is Mueller getting to the bottom of the irregularities with our election. Democracy is under attack around the world. Liberal democracy is the best form of government we have found and with a healthy dose of socialism (that is an economic form for those of you whose head's are about to explode) and our democracy has been attacked. The attackers are both home grown and foreign. These are exactly the threats we expect our government to combat. Instead Republicans are complicit and the Trump administration is an active partner in the destruction of our democracy. Time for all of the criminals to go to prison. Not like after 2008 when they mostly got away scott free. Trump and every Republican in federal office needs to be investigated and, if found guilty, sent to prison and forbidden to run for any office ever again. Need room for all the new prisoners? Empty Gitmo and let out any person in prison for a pot charge. Plenty of room for all of the Republicans and others who have sold our country to the Russians.
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I’m sure Robert Mercer was shocked, shocked to learn what Alexander Nix and the rest of the management team had been up to.
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This is what the republicans have become, a cyber-psychological war against the American Public.
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Big Iceberg Theory
Let's see: Company funded by the Mercers suffers embarrassment (gets exposed) and fires fool for saying out loud that he's doing what they hired him to do. Said company has gigabytes of data safely stored (and backed up) on their servers. Stephen Bannon was founder. Chief Data Officer couldn't possibly have had a clue about what said company was doing, so he's been promoted.
Here's the more probable real story: The Mercers and Facebook are trying to deflect attention as long as possible (so they can forensically wipe their servers) from 1) the Mercers' and Facebook's cooperation / negligence in throwing the US election, 2) the Mercers' and Facebook's mutual and active collaboration with / winking at the Russians (Stamos, who is leaving Facebook, knows something we will soon know, that Zuck and Sandberg don't want us to), and 3) the inevitable communications that will emerge as having taken place between the Mercers and Facebook and the RNC, Trump and state-level campaigns.
Here's a promise: This iceberg is big, and Facebook knows. Time to close your account.
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Mr.Nix was the fall guy.He was clueless enough to get caught on TV bragging about Cambridge Analytica's work.He should not be the last person sanctioned for dirty tricks and theft of personal information.Mr. Mercer and Mr.Bannon founded the firm and certainly knew what they were doing.Mr Zuckerberg is the head of Facebook, worth a stunning 485billion dollars, should absolutely be held responsible for the harvesting of personal information from 50million users.The Russians, the British firm and even very wealthy Americans are all complicit in meddling with our elections.
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Gosh golly shucks we're sorry that we got caught.
That is what Mr. Nix was suspended for. Getting caught. This is Robert Mercer with Nix pursuing the Mercer intent right down the line.
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So congress will say "I heard about it, we are looking into it" which is the same thing as "I can't do anything and, I really don't care" ...
America needs more than "good luck" now!
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Maybe Congress will offer up their "thoughts and prayers". It seems to be all they can actually accomplish... and as ineffective at limiting foreign interference and election manipulation as it is at stemming gun violence mayhem.
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This stuff is unreal. FYI, just to add to this, Nate Lanxon at Bloomberg reported just today (By March 20, 2018, 12:05 PM PDT): "In part three of an investigation aired Tuesday by Britain’s Channel 4 News, an undercover reporter films Cambridge Chief Executive Officer Alexander Nix saying: 'We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting, we ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy.'" Where to go from here?
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I think it's a case of "where do THEY go from here?" It should be downhill but let's see what tomorrow brings.
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As a lawyer for over 25 years, I am amazed that no media outlet, politician or lawyer has called out the House Investigation Committee, Lindsay Graham (who I otherwise respect on this issue) and others who have repeatedly said or written that they have seen "no evidence of collusion between Trump and the Russians." This is ridiculous. There is plenty of evidence. There may be no PROOF at this time, but there is evidence. A Russian soliciting the President's son and a campaign official to meet because she has dirt on Hillary, and Donald Jr.'s acceptance of such invitation is evidence. It may not be proof, but it's evidence. Trump publicly calling on the Russians to release Clinton's lost emails may not be proof, but it is evidence. Reasonable minds may differ whether the evidence proves collusion, which itself is subject to some interpretation, but there can be no doubt that evidence exists. I call upon the media and others to correct public statements that there is no evidence of collusion. Of course there is. Even if there may not be proof, yet.
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And what about The Mercers, isn't it illegal to hire firms outside of the US to work on elections in the United States?
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For those who still think this is a “big nothingburger,” nothing can be said. For the rest of the civilized world, vigilance against cyberterrorism is now our greatest challenge. The internet is way cheaper then tanks and planes. I am deleting apps, unsubscribing from sites I thought were “cool” but haven’t looked at for ages, and using a more critical eye when reading ANYTHING that comes via social media.
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Mr. Trump and his close Russian comrades need to get after this story and point the finger of blame for his election on their evil behavior.
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I wish we could suspend Robert Mercer, Rebecca Mercer and Bannon.
I guess that is called Campaign Finance Reform, a reversal of Citizens United and laws against Dark Money.
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Cambridge Analytica is controlled by Bannon and the Mercers, people with plenty of money who wish to destroy America and form it into their Dystopian puppet. They should be thoroughly investigated along with the leaders at Facebook. It would be nice to see someone go to jail, but currently in our two tiered justice system the rich are not jailed, but promoted.
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Mark Zuckerberg should also be suspended as the CEO of FaceBook as well. This little boy wonder is either incompetent or else he is so greedy that he looks the other way to sell out his country. Either way, the stockholders should not put up with his leadership of the company.
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Perhaps I am not sufficiently computer savvy but do not understand how Cambridge actually came into possession of 50 million 'anonymous' files? What does 'harvested' mean? Were they hacked and stolen or did Facebook provide them? There seems to be lots of questions about Cambridge but few answers so far.
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Cambridge Analytica paid a researcher to develop a psychological quiz that was given to a few hundred thousand FB users who chose to take it. The data they accessed from each user who took the quiz included the information of all their "friends" (50 million of them) - aka, derivative data. Facebook gave Cambridge Analytica the data, but in essence they stole it by using false pretenses. FB has known since 2015 and never alerted their users to the breach.
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They posed as an academic researcher. Facebook provides access to its data to academia.
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Users completed a quiz (through an app on Facebook) they wanted and agreed to complete. Back then, Facebook also allowed some data to be gathered from friends with an app. So, the people behind the app gathered information on the quiz takers and their friends. There was nothing bad about this, in fact WolframAlpha used this feature so you can make a friend graph of your friends. The problem is that someone with access to that data ultimately gave it away to someone at CA, which is a clear violation of Facebook's terms of service and was never made clear to the quiz takers. CA then used that data to benefit their clients, particularly political campaigns.
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Political dirty tricks are not part of psychographic modeling, not that it smells any better.
Psychohistory is nothing new, of course. In WWII, the U.S. government commissioned pros to do a profile on Hitler. And FBI and other agencies have legitimate profilers.
However, finding people weakness and frame and/or entrap them seems to be more Putin's bags of tricks. Maybe Mr Nix could work for him. Now, what are the *shareholders* going to do with CA, now that the dirty laundries are all over? Perhaps change its name like the American mercenary group and market its ware. Pretty sure its shareholders can it a lot of patrons
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Republicans are probably lining up as we speak.
The solution is simple. We take our own data out of the hands of the small number of massive corporations like Facebook, Amazon, and Google that dominate the data/information marketplace. They have each amassed so much information about our individual habits, beliefs, spending tendencies, and online behavior, that they know us better than we know ourselves (as Cambridge Analytica representatives were caught on camera saying by the undercover Channel 4 investigation).
We should own our own data. We should be able to sell it to companies that we choose to sell it to instead of leaving it in the private care of companies that have proven to be incapable of responsibly taking care of it. Blockchain technology will allow this idea to become a reality. It's the only way to prevent gross misuse of data about us as any attempt to regulate silicon valley is met with fierce opposition and lobbying.
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The ensuing weeks and months will reveal what role they played in the election. The results may be surprising. Such a rich data set on millions of users, along with their locations in key districts, would be vital for last minute ground game strategy. And what if that data was "shared' with foreign operatives? The mind boggles.
140
As trump congratulates the murderous putin and hints at a date, mercer who's connected to crooked oligarch firtash continues psychological warfare to achieve his poliitcal aims. So long as cambridge analytica is operating and the Koch brothers alternative cyber warfare tools i360 and Data Trust, free and fair elections are at risk. Congress dithers while cyber warfare goes undiscovered and unpunished. Clearly the firing of a few facilitators of the cyberwarfare on electorates, is inadequate and insulting to intellegent informed people. Now more than ever we need the intelligence agencies world wide to unravel this mess.
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I'll bet there was an executive summary in Russian somewhere, for marketing to the 'right people' in the Kremlin.
Which company sounds more ethical here? Facebook, for relieving its head of data security for sounding alarm bells about improper usage of the company's data...or, Cambridge Analytica for suspending its CEO for actually conducting improper business activities?
Zuckerberg and Sandberg have some explaining to do here. Not just about Facebook but about their own professional behavior.
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Far be it for me to suggest that Facebook is more ethical than anyone.
But notice that Cambridge Analytica has appointed as its interim chief executive its head data scientist who sat next to Alexander Nix in those exact same meetings. https://www.wired.com/story/cambridge-analytica-execs-caught-discussing-...
A paragon of corporate honesty and transparency they are not.
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And both have been eerily quiet as of late.
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Facebook needs to go the way of Yahoo...
Nix was doing the bidding of Bannon and Mercer. The buck doesn't stop with Nix, so people will skate having profited from completely unethical, should be wholly illegal, actions.
Once again, massive white collar fraud and no fear of jail time for those behind it. Certainly with banking regulations being unraveled, people can't expect laws to be put in place to protect them. This is government against the people rather than for and by them.
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Yes indeed. "founded by Stephen K. Bannon and Robert Mercer, a wealthy Republican donor who has put at least $15 million into it" and that's all you need to know.
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Indeed, Bannon, Mercer (etc.) helped fund and orient CA using initially British-based military contractor SCL to help set up information weapons to change American "culture". Cambridge Analytical pulled data from U.S./FB members and friends (220 million per their website claims) to exploit vulnerabilities that CA algorithms "revealed" Americans/Facebook users had and to steer election results to favor Trump. CA also shared data it was gaining from its U.S. data harvesting capabilities in a pitch to Russia's Lukoil about how to set up disinformation campaigns in other countries. CA's Alexander Nix met with Corey Landowski "prior to Trump announcing" and were testing messages that Trump later used: "Drain the swamp" "deep state/NSA watching you" "illegals scaling the walls", etc. Firing the disgusting Nix does not get at the company's rot or the ugly criminal things they've done.
http://theweek.com/speedreads/761935/cambridge-analytica-testing-trump-c...
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