San Francisco — Facebook has suspended Canadian political consultancy AggregateIQ from its platform after reports that the data firm may have improperly had access to the personal data of Facebook users.
Facebook is under intense pressure after the data of millions of its users ended up in the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
Christopher Wylie, a whistleblower who once worked at Cambridge Analytica, has said that it worked with Canadian company AggregateIQ.
"In light of recent reports that AggregateIQ may be affiliated with SCL [Strategic Communication Laboratories] and may have improperly received Facebook user data, we have added them to the list of entities we have suspended from our platform while we investigate," Facebook said.
"Our internal review continues and we will co-operate fully with any investigations by regulatory authorities," it said.
SCL is a government and military contractor that is the parent of Cambridge Analytica. Wylie said that AggregateIQ received payment from a pro-Brexit campaign group before the 2016 referendum when Britain voted to leave the EU.
The Canadian federal agency charged with protecting privacy rights of individuals said on Thursday that the agency, along with its counterpart in British Columbia, would jointly investigate Facebook and AggregateIQ over the data scandal.
British Columbia’s privacy commissioner was separately investigating AggregateIQ over whether the Victoria-based company had broken provincial personal privacy rules for its role in the Brexit campaign.
Facebook Canada said on Wednesday that more than 600,000 Canadians had their data "improperly shared" with Cambridge Analytica.
AggregateIQ was not immediately available for a comment.
Facebook first acknowledged in March that personal information about millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, which has counted US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign among its clients.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.