Report: FBI, Department of Justice investigating Cambridge Analytica

A Cambridge Analytica sign.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The FBI and Department of Justice are investigating the now-defunct British data firm Cambridge Analytica, and prosecutors have spent the last few weeks questioning former employees, an American official and others familiar with the matter told The New York Times.

Cambridge Analytica worked with President Trump's campaign and those of other Republicans during the 2014 and 2016 elections, and in March, it emerged that the firm had harvested private data from more than 50 million Facebook users. Using that data, the company developed techniques that could allegedly identify personalities of voters and influence their behavior. Earlier this month, Cambridge Analytica announced it was shutting down and declaring bankruptcy, saying bad press and investigations like one launched by the National Crime Agency of Britain had ruined the business.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.