The head of Trump-affiliated data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica has been suspended, while government authorities are bearing down on both the firm and Facebook over allegations the firm stole data from 50 million Facebook users to manipulate elections.
Cambridge's board of directors suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending an investigation after Nix boasted of various unsavory services to an undercover reporter for Britain's Channel 4 News.
Channel 4 News broadcast clips yesterday that also show Nix saying his data-mining firm played a major role in securing Donald Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential elections.
Nix said the firm handled "all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting" and said Cambridge used emails with a "self-destruct timer" to make its role more difficult to trace.
"There's no evidence, there's no paper trail, there's nothing," he said.
In a statement, Cambridge's board said Nix's comments "do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation."
Yesterday, the chairman of the UK parliamentary media committee, Damian Collins, said his group has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data. He said Facebook officials "have been misleading to the committee."
"Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to 'fixing' Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called Facebook's latest privacy scandal a "danger signal."
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