FALLOUT

Whistleblower: Facebook Suspended Me for Exposing Cambridge Analytica

The former Cambridge Analytica employee alleged the Trump-linked firm harvested Facebook data from millions of users for electoral purposes.

A former employee of Cambridge Analytica who recently went public with allegations the Trump-linked data firm illegally harvested Facebook data for electoral purposes says he’s been suspended by the social media giant “for blowing the whistle.” Christopher Wylie posted a screenshot to Twitter on Sunday showing an “account disabled” message, purportedly from Facebook. He said he’d been suspended for going public “on something they have known privately for 2 years.” Wylie was cited by The New York Times a day earlier alleging Cambridge Analytica stole the Facebook data of at least 50 million users as part of a psychological profiling campaign for U.S. elections. The data firm, largely owned by the Mercer family, is under scrutiny as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, as it worked with President Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Facebook, which suspended Cambridge Analytica for policy violations just as Wylie’s claims came out, is also under fire for apparently not acting quickly enough after learning of the allegations.