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Cambridge Analytica was “not concerned” within the EU referendum, says the Data Commissioner.
A 3-year probe into the misuse of non-public knowledge, centring across the actions of the agency, has now ended.
The investigation led to massive fines for Fb and two pro-Brexit marketing campaign teams – Vote Depart and Depart.EU.
Nevertheless it discovered Cambridge Analytica was not concerned within the 2016 vote “past some preliminary enquiries made… within the early phases” round UKIP.
Cambridge Analytica was accused of amassing the info of thousands and thousands of Fb customers with out their consent and utilizing it in political campaigns, together with the 2016 US Presidential marketing campaign and 2016 Brexit referendum.
The ICO seized supplies from the now defunct agency’s headquarters throughout a high-profile search in 2018.
The investigation led to the agency’s collapse and its boss, Alexander Nix, being banned from being a director for seven years by the Insolvency Service.
Elizabeth Denham stated the watchdog had accomplished its “most important strains of inquiry” and warned there have been “systemic vulnerabilities in our democratic methods”.
The regulator fined Fb a file £500,000 penalty for not doing sufficient to guard its customers from their knowledge being “harvested” for political functions, a failing which it stated precipitated a “severe danger of hurt”.
Vote Depart, the primary pro-Brexit marketing campaign group whose supporters included Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, was fined £40,000 for sending out nearly 200,000 unsolicited textual content messages within the run-up to the 2016 vote.
And Depart.EU, the Arron-Banks led group which additionally campaigned to exit the EU, paid a £15,000 positive for illegal advertising in relation to emails despatched to its subscribers and people of Eldon Insurance coverage, one other agency run by Mr Banks.
As a part of its wider inquiry, parenting recommendation website Emma’s Diary was fined £140,000 after it was accused of illegally amassing knowledge and promoting it on to be used by the Labour Occasion, which used it to profile new moms.
‘Systemic vulnerabilities’
In a letter to the Culture and Media Select Committee, Ms Denham stated the investigation had supplied “new understanding about using private knowledge within the fashionable political context and has reworked the way in which knowledge safety authorities around the globe regulate knowledge use for political functions”.
“The place there was proof of breaches of the legislation, we have now acted. And the place we have now discovered no proof of illegalities, we have now shared this overtly.
“This additional work confirms my earlier conclusion that there are systemic vulnerabilities in our democratic methods.”
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Fb’s chief govt has repeatedly declined to reply questions from UK MPs in regards to the scandal
The regulator stated it had seen proof that Cambridge Analytica and its mother or father firm SCL Elections had been drawing up plans to relocate its knowledge offshore to keep away from regulatory scrutiny, however was unable to take action earlier than it ceased buying and selling.
On the broader situation of the integrity of the 2016 referendum, the regulator stated it had not recognized any “vital breaches” of the privateness and digital advertising rules or knowledge safety laws by both Stay or Depart teams “which met the edge for formal regulatory motion”.
Ms Denham stated whereas the query of alleged Russian interference within the 2016 vote was exterior the remit of the inquiry, the regulator had not discovered “any extra proof” of Russian involvement in its evaluation of fabric contained in laptop servers seized from Cambridge Analytica and SCL Elections.
The watchdog stated its probe had led to an enchancment in how political events deal with private knowledge.
It stated an audit of events’ compliance with the principles had been accomplished and could be printed shortly and its steerage for events on political campaigning would even be up to date.
