Mark Zuckerberg In Hot Water Again Over New ‘Watergate’ Style Scandal And Trump Victory

The issues just keep on coming for Facebook, as the social network is now facing even more scrutiny by the U.S. government due to a new scandal. On Saturday, it was reported that the company may have provided a data analytics firm with ties to the Trump campaign access to over 50 million users. So now, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg is being summoned to Washington to provide an explanation.

The report about the unauthorized access to tens of millions of user information provided to a firm called Cambridge Analytica was published by The New York Times. Apparently, this access could have been the reason for Trump’s victory during the 2016 Presidential elections.

In response to the allegations, the social network rejected any responsibility for the development, essentially saying that what happened was in line with its policies at the time. The company has since made changes in this regard, which basically contradicted its first statement that it wasn’t liable for the actions of Cambridge Analytica.

With regards to what the firm used the data from 50 million people for, it would appear that it gathered personal information such as names, birthdates, and even their physical address. This allowed the firm to create a psychographic profile for each person, which eventually helped elect Donald Trump as POTUS.

Following this report, Zuckerberg is now being asked to provide an explanation by legislators in both the U.S. and the UK, The Washington Post reports. The main concern is how Facebook allowed a third-party company access to such intimate information of users without even asking for their consent.

Unlike previous cases where Facebook simply sent representatives or its legal team to answer questions from lawmakers, the explicit invitation for Zuckerberg to appear just took this development to a more personal level. The legislators don’t want anyone else other than the Facebook founder, either.