By Rizal Obanil
Facebook suspended a British firm, Cambridge Analytica, which reportedly helped US President Donald Trump get elected.
In a column by Karissa Bell for Mashable, FB supposedly suspended the said firm from the site after they took issue to the way Cambridge Analytica used user data obtained by a third party developer.
Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, a University of Cambridge professor, reportedly gained access to information on some 270,000 FB users.
Although the app used in obtaining the information, insofar as FB is concerned, is in line with their developer policies, what Kogan did after obtaining them allegedly isn’t.
Paul Grewal, deputy general counsel for FB, said Kogan reportedly gave the data to Cambridge Analytica and a third party developer.
“We have suspended Cambridge Analytica from our platform for a clear violation of our policies. They cannot buy ads or administer its client pages,” Boz @boztank tweeted.
While the investigation is ongoing FB announced that they have banned both Kogan and Cambridge Analytica.
Many consider as unprecedented the public announcement of the suspension.
So far, FB has learned that although all those involved alleged that they destroyed all FB user information data collected, they still believe that not all were destroyed.
“We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens. We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior,” Masahable quoted Grewal as saying in his statement.
For now, it remains unclear whether the suspension is temporary or permanent.
The Trump political camp during the election campaign was accused of utilizing social media sites to spread fake news to help further their cause and malign their rival.
Time and again, Trump denied such allegations.