For the first time, the Facebook boss sat face-to-face with members of the US Congress. Wearing a black suit, white shirt, and sky-blue tie, the man known for his simple attire appeared different.
However, instead of looking like a young billionaire and owner of one of the world's largest social media platforms, he resembled a defendant awaiting a judge's verdict. His facial expression seemed awkward, and he answered questions only minimally.
Senator Dick Durbin summarized the essence of the issue during the five-hour hearing session by asking, "Would you be willing to tell us the name of the hotel you stayed at last night?"
There was a long pause before he finally replied, "No."
The entire room burst into laughter.
Senator Dick Durbin's question seemed to encapsulate the core issue discussed in the hearing session. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook were suspected of colluding with Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm, in illegally harvesting data from 87 million Facebook profiles.
Since then, the media has widely covered this case as the "Cambridge Analytica scandal."
Who is Cambridge Analytica?
The Cambridge Analytica scandal initially came to light after a whistleblower named Christopher Wylie testified in The Observer and The New York Times that the company illegally collected personal data from over 50 million Facebook users in the US in 2014, and then from another 30 million users in 2016.
The embryo of Cambridge Analytica was originally Global Science Research (GSR), a company founded by a Cambridge University researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, and his colleagues.
GSR's work focused on researching the personality traits and political tendencies of individuals based on their Facebook profiles. To do this, GSR created an app called "thisisyourdigitallife."
The potential of GSR caught the attention of a renowned military and security contractor, the SCL Group. After several meetings, GSR and the SCL Group agreed to form a political consulting firm named Cambridge Analytica.
Alexander Nix was appointed as CEO, while seasoned US politician Steve Bannon was appointed as Vice President. Steve Bannon's relationship with US political elites proved fruitful.
Robert Mercer, a billionaire from the Republican Party, agreed to fund the new company with $15 million US dollars. This was an initial sign that Cambridge Analytica was not an ordinary political consulting firm.
What Did They Do?
Senator Ted Cruz's campaign from the Republican Party became the new company's first test. True to form, with technical prowess and networking strength, Cambridge Analytica achieved great success.
The adventure continued. In 2016, Cambridge Analytica was recruited by Donald Trump to help him win the presidential election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. A report stated that Trump was willing to pay Cambridge Analytica $6.2 million US dollars for their services.
Winning an election in one of the largest democracies in the world is no easy feat. However, Cambridge Analytica had access to nearly all the data needed, ranging from phone numbers and political tendencies to how users approached problem-solving.
In the marketing world, this is known as "psychographic targeting," which targets audiences based on behavior, principles or values, and lifestyle. In other words, what Cambridge Analytica did was tweak marketing techniques slightly to achieve political goals. As we all know, Trump indeed won the 2016 election.
However, what was unexpected was the emergence of Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower. During the hearing session with the US Congress, Zuckerberg stated that if he had known about this issue from the beginning, he would have definitely banned Cambridge Analytica's activities on Facebook.
Although not the main perpetrator, Zuckerberg and Facebook were deemed negligent in protecting users' personal data and were required to pay $725 million US dollars in compensation.
Wow, that's a huge amount! Hopefully, Mark Zuckerberg doesn't get a heart attack when he sees the figure.
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