Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie warns that Facebook targeting threatens free speech

Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who outed Cambridge Analytica for improperly accessing millions of Facebook users’ personal information, warned that unchecked data collection and targeting on social media threaten Web users’ privacy — and the healthy functioning of democracy. Wylie, who worked at the consultancy before it assisted President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, pointed to Facebook’s tools that allow political candidates, advertisers and others to reach discrete categories of Americans online. 

But Wylie and academic researcher Aleksandr Kogan, in separate appearances in Washington on June 19, said Facebook’s fixes do not go far enough. Wylie coupled his warning with a call to federal lawmakers that they must create a “common set of standards that apply universally,” to tech companies beyond just Facebook, in the wake of the social giant’s controversy with Cambridge Analytica. Kogan, who appeared at a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, criticized tech giants such as Facebook for “skulduggery,” while calling for greater regulation that would force companies to be more transparent and give users more choice about how their data is used.