Zuckerberg was previously aware of Cambridge Analytica
#Zuckerberg #previously #aware #Cambridge #Analytica Welcome to InNewCL, here is the new story we have for you today:
Click Me To View Restricted Videos
Mark Zuckerberg, seen here during an interview at the New York Times 2022 DealBook Summit, has avoided testifying in court cases related to the massive Cambridge Analytica scandal.Photo: Thos Robinson (Getty Images)
A question that has long lingered among those involved in Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal is when did the company’s top executives know that the UK company was psychologically profiling US users, and why did it take them so long to do something about it?
Zamaan Qureshi, an American university student and tech politician, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Securities and Exchange Commission and received a 2019 affidavit from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a speech in which his company, which was then just called Facebook, investigated details about Cambridge Analytica. It contradicts testimony Zuckerberg made before Congress and could further fuel the fire of pending court cases.
For those who need a refresher, Meta came under fire in the late 2010s for sharing tens of millions of users’ personal information with British policy consultancy Cambridge Analytica. The company allegedly used this data to create psychological profiles of US voters to support the presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz during the 2016 election and later former President Donald Trump.
Zuckerberg’s filing with the SEC marks the first mention of a series of articles from Motherboard, culminating in a bombshell report released in January 2017. When asked if this was the first time he heard about Cambridge Analytica, the CEO replied:
“My guess is that I’ve heard of them before. And after seeing a few mentions of their claims, I wanted to ask people I trust what they think.”
The document reveals a different timeline of events than what Zuckerberg used in his testimony before Congress in 2019. In response to questions from congressional officials about when he knew something was odd about Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg replied:
“I’m not sure when exactly, but it was probably around the time it was released, I think it was around March 2018. I could be wrong.”
Questions from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez further angered Zuckerberg when Cambridge Analytica was brought to the attention of one of his leadership team, especially given reports from The Guardian dating back to 2015. Meta’s CEO said, “I’m sure some people have been following it up internally,” then revised his earlier statement to say, “I think I was previously aware of Cambridge Analytica as a company, I just don’t know if I was.” tracked how they used Facebook specifically.”
The SEC’s statement also notes that Zuckerberg originally intended to tell Facebook users that they were investigating Cambridge Analytica back in 2017. In a speech Zuckerberg gave to Facebook users in 2017 over allegations of Russian misinformation and election meddling campaigns, the Facebook CEO said:
“We will continue our investigation into what happened on Facebook in this election. We may find more, and if we do, we will continue to work with the government. We examine foreign actors, including other Russian groups and other ex-Soviet states, as well as organizations like the Campaigns, to broaden our understanding of how they used our tools. These investigations will take time, but we will continue our thorough review.”
According to the document, however, an earlier draft of the same speech stated:
“We are already looking for foreign actors, including Russian intelligence actors in other Soviet states and organizations like Cambridge Analytica.”
Screenshot: The Real Facebook Oversight Board
Zuckerberg claimed he was unaware that Facebook’s political advertising team raised concerns about Cambridge Analytica prior to The Guardian’s 2015 article. However, Facebook didn’t ban the British policy consultancy after this report came out, which Zuckerberg called “a mistake,” adding his company “didn’t get the dots together.” Unfortunately, which dots the company should have connected was blacked out from the document.
There are two ongoing lawsuits surrounding Cambridge Analytica. A lawsuit on behalf of shareholders in Delaware alleges the company failed to protect user privacy. Earlier this year, court documents showed that Meta had agreed to settle the consumer fraud and neglect class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Facebook users. Some reporters deeply implicated in the Cambridge Analytica scandal noted that it may have been an attempt to thwart Zuckerberg’s impeachment.
In an email statement, a Meta spokesperson told Gizmodo, “This has been a settled case for over three years.” The company also followed up on a 2019 agreement the company had with the Federal Trade Commission , in which the company agreed to pay a $5 billion penalty.
Qureshi is a policy advisor for The Real Facebook Oversight Board, an independent advocacy group formed as a sort of antithesis to Meta’s own — somewhat independent — Oversight Board.
