Facebook acknowledges concerns over Cambridge Analytica emerged earlier than reported

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Facebook employees were aware of concerns about“improper data-gathering practices” by Cambridge Analytica months before the Guardian first reported, in December 2015, that the political consultancy had obtained data on millions from an academic. The concerns appeared in a court filing by the attorney general for Washington DC and were subsequently confirmed by Facebook.

The new information “could suggest that Facebook has consistently mislead [sic]” British lawmakers “about what it knew and when about Cambridge Analytica”, tweeted Damian Collins, the chair of the House of Commons digital culture media and sport select committee (DCMS) in response to the court filing.

In a statement, a company spokesperson said: “Facebook absolutely did not mislead anyone about this timeline.”

After publication of this article, the spokesperson acknowledged that Facebook employees heard rumors of data scraping by Cambridge Analytica in September 2015. The spokesperson said that this was a “different incident” from Cambridge Analytica’s acquisition of a trove of data about as many as 87m users that has been widely reported on for the past year.

-snip-

Julia Carrie Wong in San Francisco
Fri 22 Mar 2019 02.01 GMT


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/21/facebook-knew-of-cambridge-analytica-data-misuse-earlier-than-reported-court-filing

[mr_lebowski]

1. They had been doing this shit for AWHILE, so it's possible it's a 'different instance' than the 87M

records they stole on behalf of Trump ... which they acquired from a researcher who happened to be a professor at the University of SAINT PETERSBURG.

That however doesn't mean FB isn't lying. I suppose it depends on the exact question asked though.

[PSPS]

2. "aware of concerns about improper data-gathering practices"

What they really mean is "aware of concerns about improper data-gathering practices being discovered and made public." Zuckererg likes those copious rubles financing his lifestyle.