How Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal brought the social network to its knees
FACEBOOK CEO Mark Zuckerberg has placed the blame for privacy and security breaches squarely on himself. This is how it happened.
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FACEBOOK CEO Mark Zuckerberg has placed the blame for privacy and security lapses at the world’s largest social network squarely on himself. But the hijacking of data began years ago, when he had no idea just how damaging it would ever be.
Zuckerberg has ditched his trademark T-shirt for a suit and tie as he made the rounds on Capitol Hill with his assistant Andrea Besmehn for private meetings with politicians ahead of the hearings.
But no matter how sorry he is, the world may not be able to forgive him, and the outcome of the hearings could change his prized social media network forever.
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This is everything we know about the data scandal as he faces a two-day grilling by US Congress:
2010: Facebook launches the first version of its Open Graph API, which allows third-party app developers to access users’ details.
2011: the US Federal Trade Commission and Facebook sign an agreement in which the company promises it won’t share users’ data without their permission.
2013: UK-based Strategic Communication Laboratories Group (SCL) founds Cambridge Analytica as its US arm.
2014: Cambridge University researcher Dr Aleksandr Kogan harvests data from 270,000 users of his Facebook app, thisisyourdigitallife, as well as information from millions of their Facebook friends. Cambridge Analytica buys the information from Kogan in violation of Facebook’s terms.
2015: Facebook discovers users’ personal details have been sold and demands Kogan and Cambridge Analytica delete the information, but does not follow up the request.
2016: Cambridge Analytica is hired by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Trump wins the US election.
2017: Special counsel Robert Mueller requests files from Cambridge Analytica to investigate alleged links to Russian interference in US election.
November 2017 to January 2018: UK Channel 4 News reporters go undercover posing as wealthy clients to hold meetings with Cambridge Analytica executives.
February 27, 2018: Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix tells British MPs that Cambridge Analytica “[does] not work with Facebook data and does not have Facebook data”.
March 16: Facebook suspends Cambridge Analytica, claiming it lied about deleting user data. Facebook says Kogan passed that data to SCL and Cambridge Analytica against its terms of service.
March 17-18: Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie reveals how Kogan harvested data from Facebook users and shared it with Cambridge Analytica.
March, 19-20: Cambridge Analytica executives are caught on tape boasting about shady and illegal practices in videos published by Channel 4. Cambridge Analytica suspends CEO Nix. The #DeleteFacebook campaign starts as users boycott Facebook.
March 21: Facebook stocks plunge, losing $60 billion in value. Zuckerberg tells CNN he is “happy to testify” before US Congress.
March 22: Zuckerberg says he will “step up”. He accepts responsibility for “a breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it.” He announces an audit into apps accessing large amounts of information and plans for new restrictions on user data.
March 24: Cambridge Analytica UK office raids by London’s information commissioner over claims it did not delete users’ data.
March 25: Facebook takes out full-page ads in seven British and three American newspapers to address the ongoing Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal.
March 26: Cambridge Analytica is accused of breaking US election law in a formal complaint filed to the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice. Politicians demand Facebook explain itself.
March 27: Wylie tells a UK select committee the EU referendum was won through fraud, accusing ‘Vote Leave ‘of improperly channelling money through a tech firm with links to Cambridge Analytica.
March 28: Facebook simplifies the privacy settings shown in its app.
April 2: Nigeria’s government launches investigation into allegedly improper involvement by Cambridge Analytica in the country’s 2007 and 2015 elections.
April 5: Zuckerberg confirms no employee was fired due to the scandal, calls it his fault: “At the end of the day this is my responsibility”. Facebook says Cambridge Analytica may have had data on 87 million people, including more than 311,000 Australians. Australia’s acting Privacy Commissioner launches a formal investigation into whether users’ privacy was exploited.
April 6: Countries including The Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal simultaneously file complaints about Facebook breaking European privacy law.
April 7: Facebook staff confirm to TechCrunch that private messages of Mark Zuckerberg’s were deleted to avoid embarrassing leaks. Facebook says it began erasing the messages of Zuckerberg and a few other top executives in 2014 after computer hackers obtained and released emails from Sony Pictures executives. Although the ability to automatically delete sent texts hadn’t been previously available, Facebook says it now plans to make it available to all users. The company apologised for not doing so sooner.
Starting on Monday, all 2.2 billion Facebook users will receive a notice on their feeds, titled “Protecting Your Information”, with a link to see what apps they use and what information they have shared with those apps. If they want, they can shut off apps individually or turn off third-party access to their apps completely.
Facebook announced it will require political ads on its platform to state who is paying for the message and would verify the identity of the payer, in a bid to curb outside election interference. The new policy would require any messages for candidates or public issues to include the label “political ad” with the name of the person or entity paying for it.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the change will mean “we will hire thousands of more people” to get the new system in place ahead of US midterm elections in November.
April 8: Sheryl Sandberg says Facebook should have conducted an audit after learning that a political consultancy improperly accessed user data nearly three years ago. The company’s chief operating officer told NBC’s “Today” show that Facebook is now undertaking that audit. Sandberg said that at the time, Facebook received legal assurances that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the improperly obtained information.
She says: “What we didn’t do is the next step of an audit and we’re trying to that now.” The company is facing a global backlash over the improper data-sharing scandal.
April 10: Zuckerberg releases ‘preliminary testimony’ he intends to give US Congress, revealing as many as 157 million Facebook and Instagram users received “disinformation” from Russian agency.
April 11: Zuckerberg is due to testify before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
April 12: Zuckerberg is due to testify before US House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Originally published as How Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal brought the social network to its knees
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