Former head of Cambridge Analytica clashes with UK lawmakers

LONDON (AP) " The Latest on Facebook's privacy scandal (all times local):

5:40 p.m.

The former head of political consultant Cambridge Analytica is clashing with British lawmakers investigating the use of Facebook data in election campaigns. He denies his firm was unethical.

An unrepentant Alexander Nix appeared before Parliament's media committee Wednesday after previously refusing to testify due to investigations into the now-defunct firm. The disclosure of the firm's practices cascaded into revelations of other privacy gaffes at Facebook.

Nix says he's embarrassed at having been caught on camera boasting that he could entrap political figures by compromising them with bribes and Ukrainian women. But he insists he was entrapped by unscrupulous, undercover journalists.

Channel 4 News rejected Nix's claim in a statement.

Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy after former employees alleged that it used personal information harvested from Facebook accounts to target voters during Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

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9:30 a.m.

The former head of the defunct political consultant Cambridge Analytica is due to testify to British lawmakers investigating the use of Facebook data in election campaigns.

Alexander Nix has agreed to appear before Parliament's media committee Wednesday after previously refusing to testify due to law enforcement investigations into the firm.

Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after former employees alleged that it used personal information harvested from Facebook accounts to target voters during Donald Trump's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

Nix's testimony comes just days after U.K. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham told the European Parliament she was "deeply concerned" about the impact on democracy of the misuse of social media users' personal information. She said legal systems had failed to keep up with the rapid development of the internet.

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4:30 a.m.

The New York Times says Facebook has acknowledged it shared user data with several Chinese handset manufacturers, including Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat.

The report says Facebook said Tuesday the handset makers " Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL " were among 60 it had shared data with as early as 2007. Facebook told the newspaper it planned to wind down the Huawei deal this week.

The data included work history, relationship status and likes on device users and their friends.

The report didn't say the data was misused. Facebook did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, says he wants to know how Facebook ensured that data was not transferred to Chinese servers.