Facebook acknowledges concerns over Cambridge Analytica emerged earlier than reported

The concerns appeared in a court filing by the attorney general for Washington DC and were subsequently confirmed by Facebook.

The new information could suggest that Facebook has consistently mislead British lawmakers about what it knew and when about Cambridge Analytica, tweeted Damian Collins, the chair of the House of Commons digital culture media and sport select committee in response to the court filing.

The spokesperson said that this was a different incident from Cambridge Analyticas acquisition of a trove of data about as many as 87m users that has been widely reported on for the past year.

The filing raised questions about when Facebook first learned about the misuse of personal data by Cambridge Analytica, the now defunct political consultancy.

This timeline has long been complicated by the different corporate entities involved in Cambridge Analyticas data misuse.

The data of as many as 87m people was extracted from Facebook by GSR, a company formed by the former Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan, then transferred to Cambridge Analyticas parent company, SCL.

The data extraction, though highly controversial, was not against Facebooks policies, which at the time allowed GSR to take information not only from users who consented but from all their friends.

Facebook has sought to have the case dismissed and to seal a document currently redacted in filings that the DC attorney general cited as evidence in his opposition to the motion to dismiss.

The document is an email exchange between Facebook employees discussing how Cambridge Analytica violated Facebooks policies, according to a Monday court filing by the DC attorney general.

Facebook will face off with the District of Columbia in court on Friday, where a judge will hear arguments over the companys motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Original article
Author: The Guardian

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