Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica is a data analytics firm specialising in behaviour-driven work on elections. It was backed by hedge fund billionaire Trump donor Robert Mercer and was previously run by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon before he began working at the White House. It was paid $5.9 million by the Trump presidential campaign team for work carried out from June 2016 through December 2016, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.
In March 2018, the firm was accused of exploiting Facebook data to harvest "millions" of profiles of U.S. voters without their authorisation, according to a former employee who blew the whistle. Facebook announced it was suspending the firm for violating the social media company's standards and practices - two years after allegations of this practice had first emerged. Cambridge Analytica has denied any wrongdoing.
