The academic behind Facebook’s data scandal speaks out
Aleksandr Kogan has been questioned at a British parliamentary hearing about his role in the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal. The data company has broken its silence, too.
Backstory: Kogan is the researcher who created the game My Digital Life, which gathered details from about 87 million people. The data was later used by Cambridge Analytica.
Liar, liar: Suspended Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix previously told Parliament that his company didn’t use Kogan’s data. Kogan called that “total fabrication.”
Questionable data: Kogan told British lawmakers that claims made by Cambridge Analytica about the impressive accuracy of its tools, based on his data, were “highly inaccurate.” Cambridge Analytica also now says its results were “just above random guessing in statistical terms.”
Just a scapegoat? Kogan claimed Facebook was in “PR crisis mode.” He added that it was “convenient to point the finger at my firm and call it a rogue agency,” despite the fact that Facebook knows its platform “is being mined ... by thousands of others.”
Keep Reading
Most Popular

The gene-edited pig heart given to a dying patient was infected with a pig virus
The first transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human may have ended prematurely because of a well-known—and avoidable—risk.

Meta has built a massive new language AI—and it’s giving it away for free
Facebook’s parent company is inviting researchers to pore over and pick apart the flaws in its version of GPT-3

Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging
The oil kingdom fears that its population is aging at an accelerated rate and hopes to test drugs to reverse the problem. First up might be the diabetes drug metformin.

The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images
Google Brain has revealed its own image-making AI, called Imagen. But don't expect to see anything that isn't wholesome.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.