Facebook suspends the account of the whistleblower who exposed Cambridge Analytica

In the latest turn of the developing scandal around how Facebook’s  user data wound up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica — for use in the development in psychographic profiles that may or
may not have played a part in the election victory of Donald Trump — the company has taken the unusual step of suspending the account of the whistleblower who helped expose the issues.

Suspended by @facebook. For blowing the whistle. On something they have known privately for 2 years. pic.twitter.com/iSu6VwqUdG

— Christopher Wylie (@chrisinsilico) March 18, 2018

In a fantastic profile in The Guardian, Wylie revealed himself to be the architect of the technology that Cambridge Analytica used to develop targeted advertising strategies that arguably helped sway the U.S. presidential election.

A self-described gay, Canadian vegan, Wylie eventually became — as he told The Guardian — the developer of “Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare mindfuck tool.”

The goal, as The Guardian reported, was to combine social media’s reach with big data analytical tools to create psychographic profiles that could then be manipulated in what Bannon and Cambridge Analytica  investor Robert Mercer allegedly referred to as a military-style psychological operations campaign — targeting U.S. voters.

In a series of Tweets late Saturday, Wylie’s former employer, Cambridge Analytica, took issue with Wylie’s characterization of events (and much of the reporting around the stories from The Times and The Guardian).

We told @nytimes & @guardian that Mr. Wylie was a contractor for CA. He was not a founder. https://t.co/OI7ZmN8RA4

— Cambridge Analytica (@CamAnalytica) March 17, 2018

Meanwhile, Cadwalldr noted on Twitter earlier today she’d received a phone call from the aggrieved whistleblower.

Plaintive phone call from Chris: he's also banned from WhatsApp.
And - outraged voice! - Instagram.
"But how am I going to curate my online identity?" he says.
The Millennials' first great whistleblower? And @facebook hitting him where it hurts https://t.co/abjfh4td4g

— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) March 18, 2018

Facebook has since weighed in with a statement of its own, telling media outlets:

“Mr. Wylie has refused to cooperate with us until we lift the suspension on his account. Given he said he ‘exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles,’ we cannot do this at this time.

“We are in the process of conducting a comprehensive internal and external review as we work to determine the accuracy of the claims that the Facebook data in question still exists. That is where our focus lies as we remain committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information.”