Ex-CEO of Cambridge Analytica says he didn't mean to mislead

The former CEO of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica says he never meant to mislead British lawmakers when he denied the company had access to data on Facebook users.

Alexander Nix acknowledged today that he should have been clearer when asked at an earlier hearing whether his firm had Facebook data through Global Science Research, a company set up by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan.

Nix says he should have said "yes" but that his "focus was on whether we still held the data from GSR, which was the issue Facebook had been most concerned about." He says the data was deleted at Facebook's request.

Nix is testifying before Britain's parliamentary media committee. Facebook suspended Nix's firm amid allegations it improperly harvested personal data from as many as 87 million Facebook accounts and used the material in Donald Trump's presidential election campaign.