In 2018, the world was shocked to learn that British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of at least 50 million Facebook (NASDAQ:META) users without their consent and used it to influence elections in the United States and abroad.
An undercover investigation by Channel 4 News resulted in footage of the firm’s then CEO, Alexander Nix, suggesting it had no issues with deliberately misleading the public to support its political clients, saying: