Private information and personal details from more than 50 million Facebook accounts was allegedly used to influence opinion in elections by data firm Cambridge Analytica.
A Channel 4 News investigation into the company – which worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Leave campaign ahead of the EU referendum – found its top executives boasting of using private data to sway voters.
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Whistleblower Chris Wylie, a former research director at the UK-based company, told Channel 4 News a so-called data grab had been carried out on more than 50 million profiles in 2014.
Data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has now applied for a warrant to search computers and servers used by Cambridge Analytica (CA) amid concerns about the firm’s activities.
If you are worried about the data breach may have affected you, there are some steps you can take to make sure you are better protected.
Good News
The feature that allowed CA to access private data in 2014 no longer exists. Before 2016, Facebook apps asked for permission to access your own data and also the data of your Facebook friends.
That allowed the site to access information on somebody who signed up to a particular app – for example a personality quiz – and in the process get information on all of their friends.
That equates to hundreds of thousands of people across the site having their private data accessed without their permission.
How it works now
Facebook now gathers information from users who directly sign up to a particular app.
But this means the site – and data analysts that use it – can still harvest a significant amount of data from your own account.
Make your private data private
To manage the apps you’ve given access to, go to the App Settings page on Facebook.
You can now see all the apps you use that you have logged into using Facebook.
If there’s any that you don’t recognise, or you want Facebook to log out of, simply click the X next to ther app.
This authorises the app from your Facebook account.
Make sure your friends aren’t sharing your data
Cambridge Analytica accessed profiles because of a feature allowing access to Facebook accounts belonging to friends of people signed up to apps.
After the changes were made in 2014, the information other users can hand over on you is limited – but still includes your age, religion and political views as well as activies, likes and interests.
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You can do the same under the ‘apps others use’ heading on the same app settings page – by clicking X against all the apps.
If you want to go further – you can deactivate your account completely.
Read our handy guide of how to do that here.
Among the other allegations brought to light by Channel 4 News’ undercover investigation is that CA execs used honey traps, fake news and bribary operations to swing election campaigns.
The company also allegedly offered to use ex-spies to dig for dirt on potential targets.
But the firm’s boss Alexander Nix claimed CA was the target of media attacks because of its role in US President Donald Trump’s successful election campaign.
He told BBC’s Newsnight the Channel 4 sting was ‘intended to embarrass us’.
He said: ‘I have some regrets about the way that I have represented what the company does.
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‘I certainly feel that the air of mystery and negativity that surrounds the work of Cambridge is misfounded and, as the CEO, I take responsibility for that.’
CA was suspended from Facebook last week after it emerged that data on millions of users had not been destroyed as agreed.
The ICO is investigating the use of personal data for political campaign, including the activities of CA.
MORE: Facebook loses £17,000,000,000 over Cambridge Analytica ‘data breach’
MORE: Mark Zuckerberg told to speak to MPs over Facebook ‘data breach’ of 50 million people
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