Facebook Data Leak : A timeline of key events

Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal: A timeline of key events so far

Facebook data leaks: Facebook is facing some serious questions from users and governments after reports of data leak by a UK-based firm Cambridge Analytica have come to light. Here's a timeline of events.

Facebook is facing some serious questions from users and governments after reports of data leak by a UK-based firm Cambridge Analytica have come to light. It has been revealed that the data leak, which was actually first reported in 2015, allowed the political firm to harvest data of 50 million user profiles and this was then used to create more effective election campaigns for the Trump and the Pro-Brexit group.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come out to admit that the company made a mistake in how this issue was handled and has also announced a series of steps for the same. So what exactly has happened in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal? Here’s a look at all the key events till now.

2013: The quiz ‘ThisisyourDigitalLife’ is created

A Cambridge University professor Aleksandr Kogan created an app called ‘ThisisyourDigitalLife’ which was a personality quiz in the year 2013. The app was used by over 300,000 users on Facebook, but Kogan also managed to access the profile data of other Facebook users, who were friends of those who had used the app. This resulted in Kogan getting data of millions of users.

2014: Facebook changes rules for apps on data sharing

Facebook in 2014 limited developer access to user data. It changed the rules to say that a developer could not access a user’s friends’ data unless the friend also gave permission for the same. However, Kogan did not delete the data he had acquired from his app.

December 2015: Guardian reports on user data being used Cambridge Analytica

The first time this story of data leaks came out was in December 2015, when the Guardian reported that the firm Cambridge Analytica was helping Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign in the US with the user profiles obtained from Facebook via the app. Facebook says when they learned about the data leaks they had banned Kogan’s app and asked both Cambridge Analytica and Kogan to delete all the data that was improperly acquired. Facebook claims the parties certified that the data had been deleted.

March 2018: The Observer and New York Times break story on Cambridge Analytica-Facebook data leaks

On March 17 and March 18, 2018, New York Times and Observer in the UK reported how 50 million profiles of users were harvested to help Trump’s Presidential campaign and Pro-Brexit. Whistleblower Christopher Wylie revealed how data of over 50 million users was gained from the app that Kogan had designed back in 2013 and then used to profile, target voters.

Wylie revealed that the company successfully ‘exploited Facebook’ to target and mislead users. He has also alleged that Cambridge Analytica planted fake news. Facebook then announced it was suspending Cambridge Analytica from their platform along with its parent group Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) over the data leaks.

March 23, 2018: US House Committee wants Zuckerberg to testify

According to Associated Press, the leaders of a key US House committee said they want CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before the panel. The statement said that the “latest revelations regarding Facebook’s use and security of user data raise many serious consumer protection concerns.”