Weeks after it suspended the British data firm Cambridge Analytica, Facebook prevented the Canadian data company AggregateIQ from using its platform, according to National Observer pending an investigation after the reports connected to The two in the midst of ongoing privacy scandal that has shaken up the social media company.
In a statement to the National Observer a Facebook spokesperson says that the company has been suspended from the platform "in light of recent reports that AggregateIQ may be affiliated with SCL and, as a result, may have user information received incorrectly (Facebook), "while Facebook conducts an investigation.
We have communicated with AggregateIQ and Facebook, and will update if we receive a response.
In March, Whistlerblower of Cambridge Analytica Chris Wylie involved the company during a testimony before a parliamentary committee, saying that the company used cooperated with and used information from Cambridge Analytica during the British Leave campaign, and that it could have helped the campaigns circumvent spending limits policies. On its website, AggregateIQ describes itself as a "digital advertising, web development and software company based in Canada." It also says that "it has never been and is not part of Cambridge Analytica", or its parent company, SCL. The company also states that it has never administered or had access to the information used by Cambridge Analytica.
Last year, The Guardian reported that both Cambridge Analytica and AggregateIQ were connected to a couple of campaigns advocating for Britain to leave the European Union, and that they had a "close working relationship" . [19659006] Facebook has been shaken by revelations that tens of millions of its users may have obtained and misused their information by the UK company, after a series of reports in The Guardian ] and The New York Times . He has faced intense public criticism over lax controls over the data obtained from his platform, and has caused CEO Mark Zuckerberg to apologize and testify before Congress next week.