Which scandal involved Cambridge Analytica harvesting data from millions of Facebook users in 2018?

The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal involved Cambridge Analytica harvesting data from millions of Facebook users in 2018.

The data originated through a Facebook personality-quiz application created by Aleksandr Kogan. The app collected information from people who used it and, under Facebook’s then-existing platform rules, data connected to many of their friends. Reports later said the information was transferred to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting company.

The controversy became widely known in March 2018 after reporting by The Guardian, The New York Times, and Channel 4 News. It raised questions about consent, third-party app access, political targeting, and Facebook’s responsibility for platform data.

Facebook faced investigations and hearings in several jurisdictions. In 2019, the United States Federal Trade Commission announced a $5 billion settlement with Facebook over privacy violations. The scandal is often described as a data breach, although the data was initially obtained through an authorized app rather than a conventional system intrusion.