Aleksandr Kogan, who is responsible for creating data harvesting apps, has finally broken his silence over the Facebook CA scandal saying that he did not steal the data, rather Facebook opened its doors for developers to access that data.
In an interview with CBS News, Kogan said, “The idea that we stole the data, I think, is technically incorrect.” But he admitted of being aware that the data was going to be for elections and as a political consulting firm, he allowed Cambridge Analytica to create campaigns by analyzing voters and targeted them with ads.
Even though the psychology researcher apologized by saying they believed what they were doing was correct at the time. However, he blamed Facebook for violating its own privacy policies by creating tools for developers which made data “available to anybody who wanted it as a developer.”
Kogan also added that the social media giant did not care enough to follow up on what happens to that data – whether it’s shared, transferred or sold to unknown parties.
“The belief in Silicon Valley and certainly our belief at that point was that the general public must be aware that their data is being sold and shared and used to advertise to them,” he added.
On being questioned about Facebook’s response, he said that Facebook has been singling him out and trying to shift the blame on him by banning him. Whereas a developer named Joseph Chancellor, who worked with Kogan on the data harvesting app, still works at Facebook and is being protected by the company.
Also Read: NOTHING Wrong With Facebook’s Privacy Practices — Facebook Audit Concluded
