Guardian, The

Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics firm that worked with Donald Trump’s election team and the winning Brexit campaign, harvested millions of Facebook profiles of US voters, in one of the tech giant’s biggest ever data breaches, and used them to build a powerful software program to predict and influence choices at the ballot box.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the United Kingdom’s data protection watchdog, has concluded that WhatsApp’s sharing of user data with its parent company Facebook would have been illegal. The messaging app was forced to pause sharing of personal data with Facebook in November 2016, after the ICO said it had cause for concern. The ICO opened a full investigation into the matter in August that year.

[Commentary] The threats to the web today are real – from misinformation and questionable political advertising to a loss of control over our personal data. But I remain committed to making sure the web is a free, open, creative space – for everyone. That vision is only possible if we get everyone online, and make sure the web works for people. I founded the Web Foundation to fight for the web’s future. Here’s where we must focus our efforts:

Twitter has asked for help in tackling the rampant harassment, bots, misinformation and polarisation in a more strategic way so that it can improve the “health” of conversation on the platform, said the company’s CEO, Jack Dorsey.