Cambridge Analytica Scandal Exposed

In March 2018, The Guardian and The New York Times revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, had harvested personal data from up to 87 million Facebook users without their consent through a personality quiz app. The data was used to build psychological profiles and target political advertising during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress, and the company was fined $5 billion by the FTC — the largest privacy penalty in history. The scandal marked a turning point in public attitudes toward social media, data privacy, and the power of technology platforms. It catalyzed the passage of data protection regulations worldwide, including strengthened enforcement of Europe's GDPR.