The data broker is shutting down, saying its connection to the Facebook data scandal killed its business.
See ya never: On Wednesday, Cambridge Analytica said it and its lesser-known parent company, SCL Elections, filed to begin bankruptcy proceedings in the UK and would shutter all its operations. The companies will also start bankruptcy proceedings in the US.
What happened: In March Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica from its platform over violations of the social network’s data-use policies.
Most of those violations stemmed from an outside researcher named Aleksandr Kogan. Kogan created an app called My Digital Life, which was used to gather information about roughly 87 million Facebook users. This data was then passed on to Cambridge Analytica.
After being kicked off Facebook, Cambridge Analytica suspended its CEO, Alexander Nix, and said it would launch an independent investigation into the allegations of data misuse.
Since then, both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook have been the subject of government probes in the US and the UK.
And now: Cambridge Analytica says that the ensuing media coverage caused nearly all of its customers and suppliers to flee.
Also on Wednesday, the company posted the results of the promised independent investigation on its website; it concluded that various allegations against the company were not “borne out by the facts.” The closure of the company, however, seems to suggest it’s not going to spend too much time fighting to clear its name.
