Facebook data scandal: Amid UK probe, Cambridge Analytica audit put on hold

A digital forensic firm enlisted by Facebook Inc. to investigate Cambridge Analytica has put its audit on hold, pending a separate probe by the UK government.

Facebook had said earlier that it enlisted the firm Stroz Friedberg to assess advertising-data provider Cambridge Analytica, whose handling of Facebook user data has embroiled the social networking company in controversy.

“At the request of the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, which has announced it is pursuing a warrant to conduct its own on-site investigation, the Stroz Friedberg auditors stood down,” Facebook said Monday.

At issue is information on millions of Facebook users that Cambridge Analytica obtained from a researcher who shared the data without Facebook’s permission. According to published news reports, Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan created a personality-analysis app that was used by 270,000 Facebook users, who in turn gave the app permission to access data on themselves and their friends, ultimately exposing a network of 50 million.

Kogan and Cambridge Analytica had agreed to be audited by Stroz Friedberg to determine whether the data company still has the information, which it said has been deleted.

The data company, which worked for U. S. President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, was required to destroy the information in 2015 when Facebook learned it had the data, but reportedly failed to do so. Cambridge Analytica has denied wrongdoing.

“If this data still exists, it would be a grave violation of Facebook’s policies and an unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments these groups made,” Facebook said. “We are moving aggressively to determine the accuracy of these claims.”

Digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg will conduct a “comprehensive audit,” and Cambridge Analytica will provide “complete access to their servers and systems,” Facebook wrote before the audit was put on hold.