 shares fell on Wednesday in the wake of allegations that personal data from the site was used by a political consultancy firm to aid Donald Trump's presidential campaign.){kind=link}
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) shares fell on Wednesday in the wake of allegations that personal data from the site was used by a political consultancy firm to aid Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
50 million Facebook users have allegedly had their private information used by London-based firm Cambridge Analytica, which may have played a key role in the US election result. The company’s CEO boasted that it had placed “unattributable and untrackable” advertising on to support their clients in elections, according to an undercover expose by the Guardian and Channel 4.
“We just put information into the bloodstream of the internet and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again over time to watch it take shape,” said the executive.
“And so this stuff infiltrates the online community, but with no branding, so it’s unattributable, untrackable.”
On Tuesday the US media confirmed that the Federal Trade Commission was launching an investigation into Facebook’s handling of user data.
The revelations have caused Facebook shares to tank, with its market value plummeted by more than $40 billion in just two days. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has yet to make a public statement, and the social media site has said that it is expecting questions but it has not yet been told it is under investigation.
“We remain strongly committed to protecting people’s information,” Facebook deputy chief privacy officer Rob Sherman said. “We appreciate the opportunity to answer questions the FTC may have.”
Facebook shares are currently trading down 1.02 percent at 166.43 (1440GMT).