Facebook Employee Exits After Probe on Cambridge Analytica Deal
Joseph Chancellor worked at Facebook as a social psychology researcher.
(Bloomberg) -- A Facebook Inc. employee who was under review regarding his role in transferring data to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica has left, the company said, without disclosing the results of its probe.
Joseph Chancellor worked at Facebook as a social psychology researcher. He was hired after co-directing Global Science Research, the company that used a personality-quiz app to obtain information from Facebook on up to 85 million Americans. GSR then improperly shared that data with Cambridge Analytica, a firm that later worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for U.S. president. The social network’s review of Chancellor started a few days after news reports disclosed the data transfer. Reports also revealed that Facebook knew Cambridge Analytica had the information in 2015 and asked for it to be destroyed, but it wasn’t.
Since then, a lot has happened. Facebook called another GSR co-director, Aleksandr Kogan, a liar and suspended him from its network. The company went through and revised many of its privacy settings to prevent future abuses. And Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg appeared for 10 hours of congressional testimony in April. All the while, the company consistently said that it couldn’t comment on Chancellor’s status.
“He’s no longer employed by Facebook and we wish him well," said Andy Stone, a spokesman. The New Yorker earlier reported his departure.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr
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