The Facebook Data Breach Scandal and the Cambridge Analytica Case
“One like you clicked might have changed an election.” A shocking scandal in which tens of millions of users’ data were transferred with just one consent—let's revisit it.
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Hello. As someone who used to love social media, I was quite shocked when I first encountered this incident in 2018.
“I just used a quiz app”—yet tens of millions of users' personal information was leaked, and that data was used for political manipulation. It was truly shocking.
Today, let’s take a detailed look at the Facebook data breach scandal and the real identity of Cambridge Analytica.
We must learn from this case that technology can threaten our trust.
Table of Contents
1. Background: Facebook and User Data
Since the early 2010s, Facebook had strengthened its ad targeting services based on users’ behavioral data. What users liked, which pages they followed, who they friended—personalized data became the core of its profit model.
At the time, however, Facebook provided third-party app developers with broad access to user data via its developer API. This created a vulnerability, which led to a massive leak—not just of user data but also that of their “friends.”
2. How Did the Leak Happen?
In 2014, Aleksandr Kogan, a researcher from the University of Cambridge, developed a personality quiz app called "thisisyourdigitallife". The app collected various types of information including friends list, likes, and posts, for psychological analysis of users.
The issue was that it collected data not only from the 270,000 users who installed the app, but also from about 87 million of their Facebook friends without consent. This data was later sold to the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
3. The Role of Cambridge Analytica
Using this massive dataset, Cambridge Analytica conducted psychographic profiling to categorize users. For example, they designed highly targeted election messages for specific types such as “extroverted conservative men.”
- Data was provided to Trump’s campaign and Brexit supporters
- Emotionally charged content delivered based on user traits (fear, anger triggers)
- Attempted to distort public opinion via targeted Facebook ads
Ultimately, people were influenced by content that was strategically designed to target their psychological profiles—without even realizing it.
4. Use in Elections and Public Opinion Manipulation
The data from Cambridge Analytica was actively used in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign for Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum. They designed emotionally manipulative messages for each psychological profile, combining fake news and seemingly public-interest content to influence voters' judgment.
For example, they would display messages like “Immigrants are taking your jobs” to users prone to anxiety, or show political distrust content to disengaged audiences.
- Precisely crafted target messages → Emotional response induction
- Combined with social media algorithms to spread extreme information
- General users were unaware that the information was manipulated
5. Facebook After the Incident and Regulatory Changes
Once the scandal broke, Facebook faced a global backlash. CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Congress, and Facebook’s stock price plummeted by over 10% in a single day.
| Measure | Details |
|---|---|
| Facebook internal policy reform | Significantly reduced app access privileges, stricter external API controls |
| FTC fine in the U.S. | $5 billion fine imposed—the highest in history |
| Implementation of GDPR in Europe | Established data collection principles based on user consent |
6. Lessons We Must Remember
This incident was not a simple hacking event, but an exploitation of personal information under user consent. What’s even scarier is that it shook the judgment of society and even democracy itself.
- The price of a free app = My data
- Always consume information with a critical eye
- Data can become a new form of power
We now live in a world where we must be wary not only of ‘who knows what,’ but more importantly, ‘what can be done with that information’.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
About 87 million Facebook users had their data collected without consent, and most were “friends” of users who installed the app.
Yes, the data was handed over when users granted access to the app, so it was not hacking—it was the abuse of “consensual data collection.”
It’s hard to prove direct causality, but evidence of targeted advertising and public opinion manipulation exists, and both the Trump campaign and Brexit campaign used the data.
After the scandal was exposed, the company officially shut down and filed for bankruptcy in May 2018. However, some key figures continued working under different company names.
Yes, Facebook continues to collect various forms of user data with consent. However, transparency and user control have improved compared to the past.
Even if you didn’t install the app yourself, if your friend used the app, your data could have been shared through the Facebook API.
Conclusion: Data is Power, and Power Requires Responsibility
We live our lives clicking “Like” on social media.
But the Cambridge Analytica scandal clearly showed us that even those small actions can be compiled into a political strategy and return as a message targeted at our psychology.
The freer the flow of information, the greater the responsibility that comes with it.
Technology never stops—but we can establish the ethics for using that technology.
Let’s continue to develop the eyes to see beneath the surface when using the internet and online platforms. π±ππ§
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