Cambridge Analytica announces closure amid Facebook data scandal

You must be aware of Cambridge Analytica after Facebook's data scandal broke out. Well, after being in the spotlight for months for its participation in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and its parent company SLC Group have announced that they are shutting down.

"The Company is immediately ceasing all operations," the company said in a statement posted on its website. The announcement was first spotted by Gizmodo, which had obtained documents that includes a directive to American employees to return their respective keycards immidiately. It was later confirmed by SLC Group founder Nigel Oakes in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

This doesn't come as a surprise, since the company has been fighting accusations of misusing Facebook user data. The allegations claim that the firm invaded user privacy to support Trump's campaign.

In response the company released a statement denying any wrongdoings. "Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations and, despite the Company's efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas."

"Cambridge Analytica maintains unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully."

The company launched an independent investigation on the matter. Its chief executive Alexander Nix was sacked following the allegations of the wrongdoings. According to the company, the investigation supports its "unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully."

Cambridge Analytica said to have retained private data from more than 50 million Facebook users while claiming to have deleted it. Many users and politicians in response and even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it a 'breach of trust.'

Earlier, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the Cambridge Analytica scandal. They put out ads in US and UK Sunday newspapers. The ads suggest that a quiz app built by a Cambridge University researcher leaked Facebook data of millions of users four years ago.

Following this matter, it was also found out that Facebook collected user's personal data such as contact numbers and text messages from Android phones. The company in response to the reports said that the call and SMS data was uploaded to secure servers and come only from Android users who opt to allow the sync of data.