FTC Kicks Feet Through Ash Pile that Once was Cambridge Analytica with Belated Verdict
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FTC kicks feet through ash pile that once was Cambridge Analytica with belated verdict
The US Federal Trade Commission has issued what looks to be a largely symbolic ruling against the remnants of data-harvesting marketers Cambridge Analytica.
In a unanimous 5-0 ruling (PDF) issued on Friday, the trade body declared that the defunct British marketing intelligence operation ran afoul of laws against deceptive business practices and was in violation of the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework.
The findings stem from the FTC's July complaint filing against Cambridge Analytica, alleging that the political marketing company lied to Facebook users when it pitched its GSRApp as a "personality test" that would not collect or sell identifiable information.
In reality, Cambridge Analytica was found to have collected personal information on tens of millions of people and then used that data to train algorithms for specifically-targeted campaign ads. That, the FTC says, was definitely not legal.
[...] Not that any of this will mean much in the grand scheme of things. Cambridge Analytica was shut down as a going concern last year, and its CEO and App Developer settled their involvement back in July.
Still, the ruling makes it official record that Cambridge Analytica broke the law and was subject to legal action as a result.
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