Cambridge Analytica closes itself down

Political consultancy Cambridge Analytica has announced it is closing down and has begun insolvency proceedings, a statement on the company’s website announced last night.

The company has been “been plagued by scandal”, The Guardian says, since it was revealed in March that the data of around 87 million Facebook users had been improperly harvested and used in an attempt to influence voters in the US election and Brexit referendum, both in 2016.

Cambridge Analytica, along with its UK-based parent company SCL Elections Ltd, have blamed the closure on media attention the companies received in the wake of the Facebook scandal.

“The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers,” it said. “As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business.”

However, BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones says that the demise of Cambridge Analytica may just be the beginning: “As more stones are lifted there may be more unpleasant surprises to come about the use and misuse of personal data.”