This week’s “News You Can Use” is a special edition covering the Facebook Cambridge Analytica issue. It is popping up in a few of my posts, so I decided to consolidate everything into one post.
- Cambridge Analytica: all the news about Facebook’s data privacy scandal
Facebook said late Friday that it had suspended Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL), along with its political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, for violating its policies around data collection and retention. The companies, which ran data operations for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign, are widely credited with helping Trump more effectively target voters on Facebook than his rival, Hillary Clinton. While the exact nature of their role remains somewhat mysterious, Facebook’s disclosure suggests that the company improperly obtained user data that could have given it an unfair advantage in reaching voters.
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The CEO of controversial data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica was suspended today after he was filmed by undercover journalists appearing to encourage the use of beautiful women to entrap politicians as part of election influence campaigns. Alexander Nix will face a “full, independent investigation” of his comments, the company’s board said in a press release.
“In the view of the Board, Mr. Nix’s recent comments secretly recorded by Channel 4 and other allegations do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation,” the company said in a statement posted to its website. “We have asked Dr. Alexander Tayler to serve as acting CEO while an independent investigation is launched to review those comments and allegations.”
- Facebook Ignites Debate Over Third-Party Access to User Data
The current controversy has its roots in a 2007 decision by Facebook to give outsiders access to the company’s “social graph”—the friend lists, interests and “likes” that tied Facebook’s user base together. Tapping that rich store of information required that a person create an app and plug it into Facebook’s platform.
The move helped Facebook become a fixture in its members’ lives, catapulting the company from 58 million users to more than 2 billion today. It also addressed criticism from people who argued the company shouldn’t have sole custody over the data generated by users.
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In 2014, Facebook said it would reverse course after users questioned their data being shared with outsiders without their knowledge. Those changes went into effect in 2015, forcing many dating, job-search and political apps to close their doors, and sparking a fresh round of criticism that Facebook changed its rules at whim.
Despite the changes, Facebook couldn’t ensure data already gleaned by developers wasn’t shared with third parties. Such a move would violate the Facebook policies governing how third-party developers can deploy data they obtained from the company.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-ignites-debate-over-third-party-access-to-user-data-1521414746
- Facebook under fire over claims Trump consultants mined data
So…I don’t normally use Fox News clips on this blog, but the first 4 videos on this topic are from Fox, which made me think of this article from Wired that documents Murdoch’s displeasure at Facebook changing their news algorithm and how there would be a price to pay if it wasn’t fixed. - The Problem Is Facebook, Not Cambridge Analytica
There’s plenty of evidence that Brad Parscale, who ran the digital side of Trump’s campaign, worked closely with Facebook. Using the platform’s “Lookalike Audiences,” he could find people who resemble known Trump supporters. Facebook also has the capacity to target ads to the friends of people who have “liked” a page — a Trump campaign page, for example.
Targeting messages to millions of specific people without going directly through Facebook is messier and probably more expensive than using the social platform’s own tools. All Facebook requires for access to its data trove is a reasonable fee.
- How to delete Facebook
If you are ready to delete your account, you can click this link, which will take you to the account deletion page. (Facebook doesn’t have the delete account option in its settings, for some reason.) Once you click “Delete My Account,” your account will be marked for termination, and inaccessible to others using Facebook.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17142806/how-to-delete-facebook-page-account-data-privacy
- Google is taking advantage of Facebook’s weak news reputation:
There are three specific goals of the Google News Initiative: highlight accurate journalism while fighting misinformation, particularly during breaking news events; help news sites continue to grow from a business perspective; and create new tools to help journalists do their jobs. Google is serious about supporting these goals, too, pledging to invest $300 million over the next three years.
Extra Content:
How could I not share my recent SourceCast episode on Facebook’s methods of attracting children to the platform
Photo by Alexandre Croussette on Unsplash