Cambridge Analytica shuts down after media backlash

After citing a loss of business, Cambridge Analytica shuts down but investigators are determined to dig deep into the firm’s handling of millions of user data anyway.

The data firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 announced on Wednesday that it is shutting down owing to negative media coverage. While expressing ‘unwavering confidence’ for its employees that they have not been at fault, Cambridge Analytica said in a statement on its website, “The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers.”

WhatsApp co-founder and CEO bids goodbye to parent company Facebook

However, the closure of the firm will not stop the investigations over the allegations laid upon them. “We have got to make sure this isn’t an attempt to run and hide, that these companies are not closing down to try to avoid them being rigorously investigated over the allegations that are being made against them,” BBC quoted chair of the Commons select committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Damian Collins.

The firm came under pressure after allegations of it to acquire personal data of about 87 million Facebook users for the purposes of targeting political campaigns. However, the company believes that the accusations of wrongdoing were not ‘borne out by facts.’

Meanwhile, the parent company SLC Elections is also shutting down.