WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Massachusetts attorney general said on Saturday her office was launching an investigation after reports that Cambridge Analytica had harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Cambridge Analytica's CEO answered British MPs' questions about election influence last month

The attorney general for the US state of Massachusetts is launching an investigation into alleged harvesting of Facebook profiles by a firm employed by Donald Trump's election campaign. On Friday, Facebook's vice president and deputy general counsel, Paul Grewal, said in a detailed statement that a University of Cambridge psychology professor, Aleksandr Kogan, had provided Facebook user data he gained through an app to third-parties, including Cambridge Analytica -- a breach of the social media site's policies on protecting people's information. Although Cambridge Analytica told Facebook the data was destroyed, the social media site's statement said it recently received reports that indicated otherwise and was suspending the data firm, its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories, Kogan, and another person he shared the information with, Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies Inc. A spokesperson for Cambridge Analytica denied that the organization is in violation of Facebook's terms and said it is in communication with the social media site. During the 2016 US presidential race, Cambridge performed a variety of tasks for the Trump campaign, including profiling voters, purchasing TV ads, and suggesting where Trump should travel to best appeal to voters, according to The Times. However, the statement did not mention Mr Kogan, his company, or Cambridge Analytica, instead saying it was part of an "ongoing investigation into the use of data analytics for political purposes". According to the newspaper, "the firm was effectively a shell" based in the U.K. and run by foreigners whose contracts with American campaigns — including that of presidential hopeful Ted Cruz — possibly violated Federal Election Commission rules. In past interviews with Reuters, Parscale has said that Cambridge Analytica played a minor role as a contractor in the 2016 Trump campaign, and that the campaign used voter data from a Republican-affiliated organisation rather than Cambridge Analytica. He said the parent company’s SCL Elections unit hired Kogan to undertake “a large scale research project in the U.S.,” but later learned that he had obtained data in violation of Facebook policies, and subsequently deleted all data it received from Kogan’s company. Healey's office did not immediately reply to CNN's request for further comment on the investigation. About 270,000 people downloaded "thisisyourdigitallife," according to Facebook, and in doing so gave away their data; some — depending on security settings — even gave away information about their Facebook friends. Facebook conceded that Kogan “gained access to this information in a legitimate way and through the proper channels that governed all developers on Facebook at that time,” but said by passing the data to third parties “he did not subsequently abide by our rules.”

In 2015, when Facebook learned that Kogan had shared the results of his research on Facebook users with Cambridge Analytica and Wylie, they asked them to delete the data, and received assurances from both that this had been done. Cambridge Analytica later certified in 2015 that it had destroyed the information that it received, according to Facebook, although the social network said it received reports “several days ago” that not all the data was deleted.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey launches an investigation into alleged harvesting of Facebook profiles by Cambridge Analytica, a firm employed by Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.