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Whistleblower claims Facebook suspended his account after exposing company that breached social network’s data
Facebook previously banned Cambridge Analytica. Whistleblower Christopher Wylie said his account was also suspended.
(DADO RUVIC/REUTERS)
The man who helped expose a Trump-tied firm that held onto data for more than 50 million Facebook users says the social media giant has blocked him.
Cambridge Analytica co-founder Christopher Wylie posted a screenshot of his suspended Facebook account Sunday morning.
“Suspended by @facebook. For blowing the whistle. On something they have known privately for 2 years,” he tweeted.
His alleged suspension comes after news reports that the firm, which worked for the Trump campaign in 2016, secretly held data on millions of users. He worked there until 2014.
Tamsin Allen, Wylie’s attorney, told CBS News in a statement that the social network "privately welcomed" his help as the New York Times and the Guardian prepared stories on the data problems — only to suspend his account.
"This behavior is more consistent with damage limitation than with a genuine attempt to resolve a serious problem," Allen said in the statement. "None of this would have been revealed without Mr. Wylie speaking out and taking his share of responsibility. Facebook should be doing the same rather than simply blaming others."
Facebook became aware of Cambridge Analytica’s efforts two years ago, the Times reported, but only recently suspended the firm.
The social network fired back, noting Wylie was part of the team that purged the data, and thus suspended as part of the response.
Suspended by @facebook. For blowing the whistle. On something they have known privately for 2 years.
“Protecting people's information is at the heart of everything we do, and we require the same from people who operate apps on Facebook. If these reports are true, it's a serious abuse of our rules,” Facebook General Counsel Paul Grewal said in a statement to the Daily News. “We will take whatever steps are required to see that the data in question is deleted once and for all - and take action against all offending parties.”
Wylie told the Times that Cambridge Analytica, which was funded by conservative megadonor Robert Mercer, wanted to shift the political scene into a divisive one.
“They want to fight a culture war in America,” Wylie told the newspaper. “Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war.”
Cambridge Analytica held onto data it insisted was deleted, and then used their social media patterns to gauge voter habits, Facebook and ex-workers claimed.
The company has denied any wrongdoing, while the Trump campaign said it wasn’t that involved.
The revelation rattled lawmakers who raised privacy concerns.
“This is a big deal, when you have that amount of data and the privacy violations there are significant,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
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