Dr Aleksandr Kogan finished work for under-fire British data firm Cambridge Analytica in 2014. But he said he had no idea the app he created would go on to help Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign.
The psychology academic claimed he wanted the data so he could predict human behaviour through social media use. Facebook says his app violated the site’s policies. But Dr Kogan said he had been “stunned” by the allegation and he had been advised that his app was entirely legal.
He said: “The events of the past week have been a total shell-shock, and my view is that I’m being basically used as a scapegoat by both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. We were assured by Cambridge Analytica that everything was perfectly legal and within the terms of service.”
Dr Kogan said he was following advice given to him by Cambridge Analytica, and he had “no reason to doubt” that was breaking any policy with Facebook. But he admitted: “I just didn’t ask enough questions.”
He also said Cambridge Analytica had “exaggerated” the accuracy of the dataset and it was more likely to hurt Mr Trump’s campaign than aid him to the White House.
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The Cambridge researcher originally developed a personality quiz called This Is Your Digital Life. About 270,000 users’ data was collected, but the app also collected public data from their Facebook friends.
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie said as a result, the personal data of about 50 million users was harvested. Both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook deny any wrongdoing, but the pressure on both is mounting, with Cambridge Analytica’s board suspending its chief executive Alexander Nix on Tuesday.
This came after a press investigation showed senior execs saying they were able to use bribes, ex-spies, fake IDs and honey traps to influence elections worldwide.
Mr Nix boasted about the company’s role in running the Trump campaign. And managing director Mark Turnbull said it could put damaging information about a political rival “into the bloodstream of the internet” without anyone knowing it was “propaganda”.
Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is seeking a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica’s London offices. Theresa May yesterday warned both companies to comply with any probe into the “very concerning” claims.
She said “people need to have confidence in how their personal data is being used”. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg yesterday admitted mistakes and outlined steps to protect data, breaking four days of silence as he posted an update on the scandal.
He said on his Facebook page his company had a “responsibility” to protect data and “if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you”. Meanwhile, an online backlash is calling on users to delete their Facebook accounts.
And Mrs May was challenged in the Commons over her party’s alleged links to Cambridge Analytica’s parent company SCL Group. The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the firm “has been run by a chairman of Oxford Conservative Association, its founding chairman was a former Conservative MP, a director appears to have donated over £700,000 to the Tory Party and a former Conservative Party treasurer is a shareholder”.
Mrs May said she was unaware of any Government contracts with SCL or Cambridge Analytica.