Cambridge Analytica – the firm at the middle of the Facebook privacy scandal – has announced it is declaring bankruptcy and is ceasing operations.
Despite Cambridge Analytica’s unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully, which view is now fully supported by Mr. Malins’ report, the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers. As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business, which left Cambridge Analytica with no realistic alternative to placing the Company into administration.
The move comes less than two months after it was revealed that the firm harvested data using a Facebook-based “personality quiz” that compromised the personal information of up to 87 million people.
The revelation of the scandal plunged Facebook into a public confidence crisis, as legislators opened investigations into Cambridge Analytica (CA).
The data gleaned by CA was allegedly used by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, although Trump’s people have denied using the data.
CA says it intends to fully meet its obligations to its employees.
While this decision was extremely painful for Cambridge Analytica’s leaders, they recognize that it is all the more difficult for the Company’s dedicated employees who learned today that they likely would be losing their jobs as a result of the damage caused to the business by the unfairly negative media coverage. Despite the Company’s precarious financial condition, Cambridge Analytica intends to fully meet its obligations to its employees, including with respect to notice periods, severance terms, and redundancy entitlements.