Cambridge Analytica
Cambridge Analytica is a data analytics firm specialising in behaviour-driven work on elections. Its parent company is Strategic Communication Laboratories, a British psyops company. Its chief executive is Alexander Nix.
Cambridge was backed by hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and was run by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon for several years before he began working at the White House. The Trump presidential campaign team paid Cambridge a total $5.9 million for work carried out between June 2016 and 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 whistleblower Christopher Wylie, a former employee.
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.
