Data collected from millions of Facebook users by a British firm could still be available, even after Facebook said steps were taken to ensure that data was deleted.
That includes campaign data from more than 100,000 Coloradans, according to an investigation by ITN Channel 4 News in the United Kingdom, a partner of NBC News.
Channel 4 News did not name the source from Cambridge Analytica that provided that campaign data, but reported that data included personality and psychological information about 136,000 Coloradans.
“There was information about my political views, there was a personality profile, personality characteristic,” said Debra Kooser, who lives in Arvada and was interviewed for the Channel 4 News investigation. “Whether you were introverted or extroverted, whether you were open or closed, whether you were neurotic or not neurotic—I remember that one.”
Kooser said some of the information she was shown about herself from the data cache wasn’t true, but whether it was accurate or not wasn’t what bothered her most.
“It was really unsettling,” she said. “Just that they had that information, whether it was… accurate or not, was really unsettling to me that they had all of that information.”
Debra said she isn’t very active on Facebook and considers herself more of an observer than participant.
“I’m not one that tends to “like” things or comment. So I found it really interesting that it had all this information on me when I’m not someone who makes posts and interacts and likes and comments in Facebook,” she said.
Cambridge Analytica claimed it helped Republican State Senate candidates in Colorado.
The Senate Majority Fund, a Colorado political committee, confirmed it hired the company in 2014 to help send some targeted mail pieces but was “extremely underwhelmed” with the product and was not aware how Cambridge Analytica acquired its data.
Wednesday, Senate Majority Fund told 9NEWS nobody at the group ever had access to the Cambridge Analytica data, and that SMF no longer contracts with the British firm.
Kooser said the experience has made her more cautious about using Facebook, even though she keeps her interactions limited.
“I’m still on Facebook – but it’s given me pause to think about where I’m at with being on Facebook at all,” she said. “It’s definitely made me a lot more cautious and uncomfortable.”
