Aggregate IQ, a Canadian data firm that played a pivotal role in the campaign for Brexit, was suspended by social media giant Facebook.
Facebook had cited reasons such as links of AIQ with its parent company Cambridge Analytica (CA), the company that has already been accused of improper access to data of millions of people.
However, AIQ has denied these reports, particularly of being a part of CA, its parent company SCL, or for that matter even accessing Facebook data.
Sources have indicated that just before the EU referendum, The Vote Leave campaign had paid approximately $3.8 million to AIQ.
Facebook said in a statement, “In light of recent reports that AggregateIQ may be affiliated with SCL and may, as a result, have improperly received FB user data; we have added them to the list of entities we have suspended from our platform while we investigate. Our internal review continues, and we will cooperate fully with any investigations by regulatory authorities.”
In his statement, Wylie, an employee of AIQ, indicated that AIQ received a payment from a campaign group that was pro-Brexit, just before the EU referendum. The Canadian federal agency charged with protecting privacy rights of individuals said on Thursday that the agency, along with its counterpart in British Columbia, would jointly investigate Facebook and AggregateIQ over the ongoing data scandal.
