Cambridge Analytica is dead. Good Riddance.

Cambridge Analytica is dead. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, its parent company the SCL Group is in the process of shutting down. As such, bankruptcy proceedings for Cambridge Analytica are expected to begin soon as well.

Who is Cambridge Analytica?

In case you’ve forgotten this infamous name, Cambridge Analytica was a data analytics firm based in the UK. It first gained fame for its analytical skills that assisted the 2016 Presidential campaign for Donald Trump. But soon afterward it was the subject of a massive scandal.

It was later revealed that the company had obtained the data of millions of Facebook users through what many assumed to be an innocent personality quiz. Naturally, it used this data to help politicians get elected, which triggered a massive debate about data privacy. These debates then escalated with government hearings in Singapore, the UK, and in the US where Mark Zuckerberg – CEO of Facebook testified before Congress.

Additionally, Alexander Nix – CEO of Cambridge Analytica also resigned. This was following reports that showed him discussing the entrapping of politicians for clients. Needless to say, Cambridge Analytica has received a lot of bad press over the past few months.

All that bad press took a heavy toll

In a press release, Cambridge Analytica has said, “The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the Company’s customers and suppliers. As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business.” No matter where you live in the world, dishonorable politicians hate to be seen anywhere near anything dishonest.

Of course, the company naturally defended itself from any wrongdoing right until the very end. Irrespective of what it says, the damage is done. While the death of Cambridge Analytica is a reason to celebrate, the war rages on for there are many other Cambridge Analytica’s out there.

As we’ve pointed out previously, it’ll take more than politicians simply saying no to such firms to fix this problem. Our data is still out there in publicly visible to everyone on social media. Until we go out there and take our privacy and data protection seriously, the death of one Cambridge Analytica will only see two more to take its place.