British marketing analytics firm Cambridge Analytica on Wednesday announced that it, along with its parent firm SCL Elections Ltd, was shutting shop and would file for insolvency in Britain and the US. The firm’s business took a hit after it emerged that the company had improperly obtained data of 87 million Facebook users on behalf of political clients, including, allegedly, the present US President Donald Trump.
Even as the data scandal led to the closure of Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has managed to duck the heat, thanks to its smart damage-control moves. Last week, the company posted better than expected first-quarter earnings, with a 49 per cent jump in revenue.
From Apology to launching new privacy tools, here’s how Facebook weathered the data theft storm:
Mark Zuckerberg‘s apology: “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” Zuckerberg said in written remark ahead of congressional hearings.
In the hearings too, the CEO took full responsibilty for failing to prevent Cambridge Analytica from gathering personal information from 87 million users to try to influence elections.
Zuckerberg fielded 10 hours of questions over two days from nearly 100 US lawmakers and emerged largely unscathed.
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