Cambridge Analytica data scandal must be investigated

“The Cambridge Analytica scandal is not only about misuse of data, but also about systems that were built for good being used against us. We need to ensure that elections and referenda that look free on the surface are actually so in reality.”

MEP Roberta Metsola made this statement in her speech during the Plenary Session in Strasbourg on the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal. Roberta Metsola, who is the EPP-Group Coordinator on the LIBE Committee, said that the links between the abuse of data and our democratic processes must be investigated.

Roberta Metsola said that “this is an era where data is the new gold and where unscrupulous politicians and those who support them will use and abuse our personal information to make their propaganda appear as fact, and to help swing elections and referenda - this is the subversion of the democratic processes and we must respond.”

Metsola referred directly to Cambridge Analytica and said that this company has a lot to answer for, in light of the fact that it has abused of data in the United States, in the United Kingdom and in many member states, including Malta. “In many cases we still do not know who the people who hired Cambridge Analytica were and for what purpose the 6,000 Maltese nationals and millions of EU citizens’ data was harvested, but we will find out” Roberta Metsola said.

She concluded that what happened in the Cambridge Analytica scandal cannot be allowed to happen again and that all laws must be made future proof to make sure of that.