Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and data mining: What you need to know

Consultants working for Donald Trump's presidential campaign exploited the personal Facebook data of millions.

That's the key message in March 17 stories by The New York Times and the UK's Guardian and Observer newspapers, as well as in statements from Facebook. The stories and statements indicate the social networking giant was duped by researchers, who reportedly gained access to the data of more than 50 million Facebook users, which was then misused for political ads during the 2016 US presidential election.

Until now, most of what you've heard about Facebook and the 2016 election has been focused on meddling by Russian operatives. Those efforts are being investigated by the FBI and the US Senate. 

Data consultancy Cambridge Analytica represents a different problem. The  company reportedly acquired data about millions of Facebook users in a way that violated the social network's policies. It then tapped that information to build psychographic profiles of users and their friends, which were utilized for targeted political ads in the UK's Brexit referendum campaign, as well as by Trump's team during the 2016 US election. 

Facebook says it told Cambridge Analytica to delete the data, but reports suggest the info wasn't destroyed. Cambridge Analytica says it complies with the social network's rules, only receives data "obtained legally and fairly," and did wipe out the data Facebook is worried about.

Here's what you need to know.

What is Cambridge Analytica?

Cambridge Analytica is a UK-based data analytics firm, whose parent company is Strategic Communication Laboratories. Cambridge Analytica helps political campaigns reach potential voters online. The firm combines data from multiple sources, including online information and polling, to build "profiles" of voters, and it then uses computer programs to predict voter behavior, which could be influenced through specialized advertisements aimed at the voters.

Cambridge Analytica isn't working with a small amount of user data either. The company says it has "5,000 data points on over 230 million American voters" -- or pretty much all of us, considering there are an estimated 250 million people of voting age in the US. 

The company has since faced criticism for what executives, including CEO Alexander Nix, said in a series of undercover videos shot by the UK's Channel 4. In the videos, Nix discussed lies and seeming blackmail he'd perform as part of his efforts to sway elections.

"We have lots of history of things," Nix said in the videos, "I'm just giving you examples of what can be done and what, what has been done."

Nix has since been suspended from his job as CEO. His comments "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.

What did Cambridge Analytica do?

Facebook said in a statement late on Friday, March 16, that Cambridge Analytica received user data from Aleksandr Kogan, a lecturer at the University of Cambridge. Kogan reportedly created an app called "thisisyourdigitallife" that ostensibly offered personality predictions to users while calling itself a research tool for psychologists.

The app asked users to log in using their Facebook accounts. As part of the login process, it asked for access to users' Facebook profiles, locations, what they liked on the service, and importantly, their friends' data as well.

The problem, Facebook says, is that Kogan then sent this user data to Cambridge Analytica without user permission, something that's against the social network's rules.

"Although Kogan gained access to this information in a legitimate way and through the proper channels that governed all developers on Facebook at that time, he did not subsequently abide by our rules," Paul Grewal, a vice president and general counsel at Facebook, said in a statement.

Kogan didn't respond to requests for comment. The New York Times said he cited nondisclosure agreements and declined to provide details about what happened, saying his personality prediction program was "a very standard vanilla Facebook app."

What does this have to do with Trump?

The Trump campaign hired Cambridge Analytica to run data operations during the 2016 election. Steve Bannon, who eventually became Trump's chief strategist, was also reportedly vice president of Cambridge Analytica's board. The company helped the campaign identify voters to target with ads, and gave advice on how best to focus its approach, such as where to make campaign stops. It also helped with strategic communication, like what to say in speeches.

"The applications of what we do are endless," Nix said last year in an interview with CNET sister site TechRepublic.

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment.

Cambridge Analytica also worked with other 2016 presidential election campaigns, according to its website and various media reports. Those included the campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz and presidential candidate Ben Carson, who went on to join Trump's cabinet as secretary of housing and urban development. 

Why did Facebook ban Cambridge Analytica from its service? 

Facebook said Cambridge Analytica "certified" three years ago it had deleted the information, as did Kogan. But since then, Facebook said, it's received reports that not all the user data was deleted. The New York Times reported at the outset of this controversy that at least some of it remains.

Cambridge Analytica said in a statement that it deleted all the data and is in contact with Facebook about the issue.

Meanwhile, Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who detailed how Cambridge Analytica reportedly misappropriated Facebook user data, said on Twitter that his Facebook account has been suspended. A few days later, he held a press conference to discuss his situation and the larger controversy.

"I'm actually really confused by Facebook," Wylie said. "They make me out to be this suspect, or some kind of nefarious person."

Was Facebook hacked?

The New York Times characterized the original problem as a data "breach" and said it's "one of the largest data leaks in the social network's history." That's in part because the roughly 270,000 users who gave Kogan access to their information allowed him to collect data on their friends as well. In total, more than 50 million Facebook users are said to have been affected.

The misuse of this data is what The New York Times zeroed in on.

Facebook, however, says that while Kogan mishandled its data, all the information Kogan got was accessed legally and within its rules. The problem is that Kogan was supposed to hold on to the information himself, not hand it over to Cambridge Analytica or anyone else. So Facebook disputes that the incident was a data breach, because the information was accessed through normal means -- using an app that asked people for access to their information, which they then agreed to.

The social network argued its point even further in an update to its March 16 statement, calling this episode a "breach" is "false."

"People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked," the company said.

Of course, critics point out that Kogan was able to do what he allegedly did because Facebook allowed app developers to request and receive access to the data of users' friends. Facebook changed that policy in 2015, prohibiting the practice.

Wait, so Facebook allows apps to access my data?

When you log in to an app using your Facebook account, the developer typically asks for access to information the social network has. Sometimes it's just your name and email address. Other times, it's your location and your friends' data too.

All this is pretty much what any app developer that works with Facebook is allowed to do. That is, until 2015, when Facebook stopped app developers from having access to friends' data. The rest, though, is still fair game.

Facebook says its rules specify that developers can't share the information they receive with other firms. That's where the problem with Kogan and Cambridge Analytica comes up.

But everything else? That's fine by Facebook. The company has an app review process it puts developers through, but once they're cleared, things are A-OK.

You hand your information over to app developers all the time. Don't like it? Think before you click, and read the requests from app developers more carefully.

Could this lead to more regulation?

Zuckerberg himself said it might. 

"I'm actually not sure we shouldn't be regulated," he said in an interview with CNN Wednesday. "The question is, what is the right regulation."

One thing we do know for sure: The honeymoon between the tech industry and government is over. After decades of (mostly) treating tech companies as favored children, legislators and government regulators are increasingly taking a tougher stance against them.

Already, this scandal has renewed calls for more regulation. 

"This latest fiasco could reignite the debate within the Beltway and EU around a tighter regulatory environment Facebook and its social platform brethren could face going forward," Daniel Ives, an analyst at GBH Insights, wrote in a note to investors right after the controversy erupted. "This represents another critical period for Facebook to hand hold and assure its users and regulators around tighter content standards and platform security in light of this latest PR nightmare."

In Washington, lawmakers and other officials were quick to demand that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testify before Congress, something he hasn't personally done in recent hearings over the intersection of social media, elections, trolls and hacking.

"The lack of oversight on how data is stored and how political advertisements are sold raises concerns about the integrity of American elections as well as privacy rights," Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said in a statement.

Zuckerberg said in an interview with Wired on March 21 that if he believes he's the best person to testify before legislators, and it's "substantive," he'll "happily do that." 

On March 23, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce made it official, sort of. Its members sent Zuckerberg a letter saying they'll be holding a hearing "in the near future" and that he's the Facebook employee they'd most like to hear from. As CEO and leader of the social network "through all the key strategic decisions since its launch," they wrote, "you are the right person to testify before Congress about those decisions and the Facebook business model."

Meanwhile, Facebook could face an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission over whether it violated a 2011 consent decree, according to Bloomberg News. The consent decree required that Facebook must get users to agree to and must notify them about the social network sharing their data. Facebook separately told The Washington Post it rejects "any suggestion of violation of the consent decree."

In Europe, where regulators have traditionally taken a tough stance on social media and privacy, the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, tweeted that EU lawmakers "will investigate fully, calling digital platforms to account." In the UK, Damian Collins, the chair of Parliament's committee overseeing digital matters, said that Zuckerberg needs to stand up and answer questions directly.

What's Facebook doing about this?

After five long days, Zuckerberg broke his silence on March 21 with a nearly 1,000-word post on his Facebook page. (C'mon, did you really expect it to show up on Twitter?) The post was his first since since March 2, when he shared a photo of his family celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim. 

Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook had made mistakes with users' information. "We have a responsibility to protect your data," he wrote. "And if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you."

He also pledged an investigation into apps that had access to "large amounts of information" before the company made changes to how much information third-party apps could access in 2018. Facebook will conduct a full audit of apps that exhibit suspicious behavior and bar developers who don't agree to audits. 

Facebook is also planning to restrict how much access developers have to your information, limiting the information it gives apps to your name, photo and email address. It will also revoke an app's access to your data if you haven't used it for three months. 

Last, Facebook will begin displaying a gauge at the top of your News Feed that lets you know which apps you've used and let you revoke their permissions.

All of that will provide comfort to many users, but for others...

Are people bailing from Facebook?

They are, though it's still too early to know if that'll have a substantial effect on Facebook's gargantuan user numbers. Right off the bat, the hashtag #DeleteFacebook flared up on Twitter -- backed by, notably, Brian Acton, WhatsApp's co-founder who sold the messaging service to Facebook for $19 billion.

We're also starting to see some action that could hit Facebook in the wallet. Within days of the scandal erupting, Firefox maker Mozilla said it would no longer advertise on Facebook because of data privacy concerns, and it launched a petition to ask the social network to improve its privacy settings. Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken a different kind of stand. Prompted by an inquiry from a Twitter user, he quickly deleted both companies' Facebook pages.

What can I do?

There isn't much. You may've been swept up in this without even knowing it. You don't have to have downloaded Kogan's app to have had your information accessed, since the statements and articles say the app slurped up information about users' friends.

Cambridge Analytica also doesn't appear to offer a way for you to request your information be removed from its systems. The company didn't respond to a request for comment.

As for Facebook, you can always try to lodge a complaint with Zuckerberg (whenever he resurfaces, anyway).

You should also check your privacy settings on Facebook. And if you're really unhappy, you could get involved in a class action lawsuit. You could also join the #DeleteFacebook campaign. Here's how to do it.

"Cambridge Analytica used surveys and a number of other tactics to exploit the loophole in the Facebook API that allowed them to extract data from the social network," @DanPatterson said CBSN. https://t.co/218zPalXGu pic.twitter.com/WEbp2DZ2lO

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 17, 2018

First published March 17 at 1:52 p.m. PT.
Updates, March 18 at 3:21 p.m.: Adds analyst comment about regulation; March 19 at 10:17 a.m.: Adds info on calls for action in Washington and Europe; 5:14 p.m.: Includes summary of Washington Post report questioning whether Facebook violated consent decree; March 20 at 9:32 a.m.: Adds info on potential FTC investigation; 3:32 p.m.: Includes details on Zuckerberg's silence and Channel 4's undercover investigation of Cambridge Analytica; 6:14 p.m.: Adds comment from Chris Wylie and details about #DeleteFacebook campaign and class-action lawsuit; March 21 at 1:57 p.m.: Includes Zuckerberg's Facebook post and plans to improve data security; 6:35 p.m.: Adds Zuckerberg's comments in interviews; March 23 at 12:18 p.m.: Adds info on Mozilla and Musk seeking distance from Facebook.

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