After Facebook, now Twitter has allegedly been found selling its data to Cambridge Analytica, the British political consulting firm which collected the data of nearly 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge and permission.
Aleksandr Kogan, who created tools for Cambridge Analytica that allowed the political consultancy to psychologically profile and target voters, bought the data from the microblogging website in 2015, before the recent scandal came to light, media reports said.
Kogan, according to The Sunday Telegraph, had established Global Science Research (GSR), which was granted access to Twitter data.
The academic reportedly said the information had only been used to create “brand reports” and “survey extender tools” and that he had not violated Twitters policies.
Kogan bought tweets, usernames, photos, profile pictures and location data from Twitter over a five-month period between December 2014 and April 2015 through his GSR, the report said.
Earlier this month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had admitted making a “huge mistake” as personal data of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, it added.
Zuckerberg, 33, had said that he accepted blame for the data leak, which has angered users, advertisers and lawmakers, while also saying he was still the right person to head the company he founded, reported PTI.
According to the report, while most tweets are public, Twitter charges companies and organisations to collect them en masse.
Large datasets are particularly useful for building a pattern of public opinion or receptiveness to certain topics and ideas, although Twitter bans companies from using the data to derive sensitive political information or matching it with personal information obtained elsewhere, it reportedly said.
“Twitter has also made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned and operated by Cambridge Analytica. This decision is based on our determination that Cambridge Analytica operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices,” a Twitter spokesperson was quoted as saying.
“Cambridge Analytica may remain an organic user on our platform, in accordance with the Twitter Rules,” the spokesperson added.
A Cambridge Analytica spokesperson reportedly said the company used Twitter for political advertising but insisted that it had never “undertaken a project with GSR focusing on Twitter data and Cambridge Analytica has never received Twitter data from GSR”.
