Zuckerberg confesses ‘huge mistake’ as Cambridge toll hits 87M

Facebook had known since 2015 that Cambridge Analytica had improperly obtained information on some 50 million users. 

 

 

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ramped up his mea culpa tour Wednesday over the Cambridge Analytica scandal even as his company acknowledged that the Trump-linked firm may have improperly obtained data on 37 million more users than originally reported.
"That was a huge mistake, and it was my mistake," Zuckerberg said on a call with reporters.
Asked if he had fired anyone for the Cambridge Analytica mess, Zuckerberg said, "We're still working through this, but at the end of the day, this is my responsibility."
"I started this place, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here," he added. "I still think I'm going to do the best job helping to run it going forward, but I'm not looking to throw anyone else under the bus for mistakes we've made here."

Before the call, Facebook disclosed that Cambridge Analytica got access to as many as 87 million of the social network's users, far more than the 50 million originally reported.
The company's intensifying damage-control efforts come as Zuckerberg prepares to testify in Congress next week. The company has been scrambling to address the data privacy controversy and continuing criticism about Russian manipulation of its platform during the 2016 election.
Asked if Facebook's board is considering replacing him as chairman, Zuckerberg told reporters, "Not that I'm aware of."
The Cambridge Analytica controversy exploded last month, when reports emerged that Facebook had known since 2015 that the data firm, which did work for Trump's 2016 campaign, obtained information on some 50 million users via an academic researcher. What's more, Facebook had failed to verify that Cambridge Analytica deleted the data once the violation was discovered.
Facebook said the new tally of 87 million people are "mostly in the U.S." An estimated 137 million Americans voted in the 2016 election, though it's not clear how many of the affected Facebook users are included in that total.
The scandal and fears that it will lead to regulation have hit Facebook's share price hard and sparked calls for Zuckerberg to go before lawmakers to explain his company's actions. He's due to testify at a joint Senate Judiciary-Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday and a House Energy and Commerce hearing the next day. The Federal Trade Commission is also investigating Facebook's practices.
Cambridge Analytica, which has close ties to Steve Bannon and the Mercer family, did work for the Trump campaign, and Bannon would later go on to serve as Trump campaign CEO and White House strategist. Cambridge Analytica has denied wrongdoing, and Trump campaign officials have played down the significance of the work Cambridge Analytica did for their operation.
In a statement Wednesday, Cambridge Analytica said its contract with the academic's research company was for data on no more than 30 million people and said that data had not been used for its work on the 2016 U.S. election.
"When Facebook contacted us to let us know the data had been improperly obtained, we immediately deleted the raw data from our file server, and began the process of searching for and removing any of its derivatives in our system," the firm said, adding that it's "undertaking an independent third-party audit" to prove it's eradicated the data.