Cambridge Analytica

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Who is Cambridge Analytica?
Cambridge Analytica is a British political consulting firm that used information gathered through data tracking to influence potential voters during elections.

How Did They Obtain the Data?
Most of the data that was used by Cambridge Analytica with obtained through Facebook. Cambridge Analytica was able to access millions of profiles and gather personal information about the users.

How Did Cambridge Analytica Use This Data?
Cambridge Analytica used the data that was gathered to run targeted ads to millions of potential voters, in hopes of influencing their voting decision. Many fake news stories and ads, which were given to specific users based on their personality types, were run through Facebook to millions of targeted users. These stories had the aim to influence voters into voting for, now president, Donald Trump.

Why is This a Problem?
All of the information that was gathered on Facebook users was obtained without the users knowledge. This means that many users had their data stolen. The process of tracking and gathering data on users without their consent brings about an ethical debate on the semantic web. While personalization of the internet is a convenient tool, when does the amount of data stored become too much?