Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says Facebook data could be stored in Russia
Another day, another twist in the Cambridge Analytica saga. And like any political scandal of the past year, now Russia is involved.
Facebook already upped the number of its users whose data was unknowingly used for a political data firm from 50 million to 87 million users, but the whistleblower who exposed the data scandal said this weekend that number could be even higher.
On Sunday's Meet the Press, Cambridge Analytica cofounder Christopher Wylie told Chuck Todd that, "I think that it could be higher, absolutely," when asked about even more people affected by the Trump campaign-connected data firm.
Wylie also floated the possibility that the mishandled data has been accessed by "quite a few people." The data was supposed to be deleted, but that hasn't happened. Now Wylie's saying it's possible it has gone far and wide. "It could be stored in various parts of the world, including Russia," he said on the show.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives have had to step in for damage control in the wake of the revelations about misused user data, assuring angry users that changes on the platform will mean something like this never happens again.
Coming up on Tuesday, the Facebook creator will testify before Congress.
Topics Facebook Privacy Social Media
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
