Facebook gets hammered, Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix suspended as stunning data breach spooks users
#DeleteFacebook is trending on social media in response to stunning allegations that UK based data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica used information from more than 50 million Facebook accounts to help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election.
#DeleteFacebook is trending on social media in response to stunning allegations that UK based data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica used information from more than 50 million Facebook accounts to help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. New videos splashed on TV shows Tuesday showed Cambridge Analytica chief Alexander Nix bragging about his strategy for Donald Trump, setting off a chain of thumbs down moves from across the world. All the latest developments on this story:
In happier times - Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg/ PTI
Zuckerberg asked to testify in UK
A British parliamentary committee on Tuesday summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions as authorities stepped up efforts to determine if the personal data of social-media users has been used improperly to influence elections. Cambridge Analytica announced Tuesday evening that it had suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending an independent investigation of his actions. Nix made comments to an undercover reporter for Britain's Channel 4 News about various unsavory services Cambridge Analytica provided its clients.
New York, Massachusetts demand answers from Facebook
The top prosecutors in Massachusetts and New York have sent a letter to Facebook demanding the social media giant protect its users' private information. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman launched a joint investigation Saturday
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Facebook shares sink 9% this week
Facebook sank following reports that the Federal Trade Commission will investigate its handling of user data while authorities in the U.S. and U.K. demanded answers from the company. While Facebook stock regained a portion of its losses at the end of the day, it has fallen more than 9 percent this week. Social media companies Twitter and Snap also fell as investors considered the possibility that the government will pass new laws affecting their businesses. Facebook lost $4.41, or 2.6 percent, to $168.15. The drop in the last two days is the worst for Facebook in two years, and it knocked Facebook from its perch as the fifth most valuable publicly traded company in the U.S. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, which owns insurance companies and railroads among many others, moved ahead of Facebook.
Consumer groups push for probe
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood and 10 other groups are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Facebook violated an agreement Facebook signed with the FTC in 2011 offering privacy assurances. The move comes after Bloomberg first reported the FTC could already be investigating. The FTC hasn't confirmed the investigation but said it takes "any allegations of violations of our consent decrees very seriously."
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