CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL
Few days ago, I went to a juice shop and ordered rose milk. The Rose milk was yummy and I drank it. Paid the owner the billed amount and left the place. And exactly two days later, this incident happened. I got a notification from zomato stating, “Manu rose milk kudikerengala?” I was startled. Being a techie, I know anything I put on the internet can be accessed by apps like zomato, but this time I dint post it anywhere. At that point if anyone would have stated, ‘Cambridge Analytica’ i would have been clueless.
Intriguing:
“Is my mobile listening to everything I’m saying?”
Is it watching everything I do?
These thoughts were lingering in my mind at that moment. Have these thoughts ever crossed your mind? If yes, this topic would fascinate you.
The Scandal :
I decided to do some basic research and ended up discerning about the world’s most notorious data scandal, “THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL”. A British consulting firm named “Cambridge Analytica” hired Aleksandr kogan, a data scientist from the University of Cambridge to develop an app called “This is your Digital Life”. This app collected personal information of users and their friends who were using Facebook. Various advertising firms and companies used these personal information’s for their own profit. But this scandal became a world-wide sensation when Christopher Wyile, an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee disclosed its part in 2016 United states presidential campaign.
Facebook Response:
The app gathered data and developed psychographic profiles for users based on their personality and their political preferences. Donald Trump paid Cambridge Analytica a good sum and used these data to influence people in 2016 presidential election. To be precise, the app bolstered Trump by segregating people based on their political preference and did campaigns in favour of Trump. For instance, if person ‘A’ disliked Trump and he/she cared for prevention of child abuse, Facebook was displaying campaign messages where Trump supporting the same cause. This would naturally increase person A’s likeability towards Trump. In contrary, triumph images of Trump and negative news of his opponent Hillary Clinton were shown for Trump supporters .
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbug embarked this as a mistake and breach of trust from his side and apologized on CNN. Later he leveraged his privacy policies by implementing EU’s General Data protection Regulation in all areas of operation. The New York Times estimated that 50million Facebook user’s data were collected, while Cambridge Analytica admitted only 30 million user’s information were collected. However Facebook later confirmed that 87 million users were collected.
When this scandal came to limelight on March 26, 2018 Facebook shares fell by 24% but Wall Street reported the company recovered all their losses by May 10th. People across the globe was enraged and they embarked a movement to boycott Facebook on all digital platforms with an hashtag #DeleteFacebook
In 2019 Netflix released a documentary titled “The Great Hack” which provides more information about the scandal and people directly and indirectly involved in it.
Finally, I could comprehend how my rose milk got linked to zomato. The bill for which I drank rose milk was computerized, and I paid it with my debit card. My card and my mobile number are linked via my bank. I use the same mobile number to login to zomato app. So the next time when you stay at your friend’s/relative’s place and return back to your home don’t be surprised to see your friend’s/relative’s toothpaste ad in your mobile.
