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Facebook employee linked to Cambridge Analytica leaves company

An employee who previously worked at Global Science Research, which fed Facebook user data to Cambridge Analytica, has left the company, Bloomberg reports.

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A Facebook employee who the company was investigating because of his links to Cambridge Analytica has left the social network, according to a report.

Joseph Chancellor, formerly a virtual reality researcher at Facebook, had previously worked as a director of Global Science Research, the company that improperly provided Facebook user data to Cambridge Analytica. Facebook said the work he did at Global Science Research was unrelated to work he did at the social networking giant but began an investigation into the connection in March, not long after the scandal broke.

"He's no longer employed by Facebook and we wish him well," a Facebook spokesman told Bloomberg, without disclosing the results of its probe.

Cambridge Analytica was at the center of one of the biggest crises Facebook has confronted in its history when it was revealed that the digital consultancy had misused the personal information of up to 87 million members of the social network. The scandal touched off a series of apologies, an overhaul of Facebook data policies and an expensive investigation into its relationships with app developers. It also landed Zuckerberg in the hot seat with Congress.

Cambridge Analytica has said it licensed the data from Global Science Research, which collected information on millions of Facebook users through a personality quiz app called This Is Your Digital Life. The app was developed by Cambridge University lecturer Aleksandr Kogan, who also founded GSR. 

Facebook has said Kogan collected the data legitimately through the personality quiz but then violated its terms by passing the information along to Cambridge Analytica, which was later hired by the Donald Trump presidential campaign.

Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Chancellor couldn't immediate be reached for comment and his biography page had been removed from Facebook's corporate website.

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