Cambridge Analytica suspended its CEO Tuesday as the British company sought to defend itself from multiple investigations into activities during the 2016 election.
Alexander Nix, the CEO of the election consultancy with connections to the Trump campaign, admitted in a video to Britain’s Channel 4 that the firm used bribes and hired sex workers — particularly attractive Ukrainian women — to try to entrap politicians.
Cambridge’s board said those comments “do not represent the values or operations of the firm.”
The company is at the center of growing questions over its mining the data of over 50 million Facebook users while working for the Trump campaign during the election.
Facebook says it released the data to a researcher, but Cambridge’s use was a breach of terms that never should have happened.
Now lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic want the companies to come clean about what happened, including demands for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to personally testify.
“I think he should explain to the American people how this happened, how many people were hurt and most importantly how they’re going to fix it,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said on CNN.
Sen. John N. Kennedy echoed Ms. Klobuchar’s calls for action saying Facebook is bigger than a website and needs to be held accountable.
“Facebook is a great company, but it’s no longer a company. It’s a country. That’s how powerful it is,” the Louisiana Republican said on CNN. “And it’s behavior lately has kind of been getting into the foothills of creepy.”
Facebook’s stock has tumbled this week after The New York Times reported on Cambridge’s use of Facebook’s data.
The Federal Trade Commission may also open a probe into the company, according to news reports, and British investigators have said they want Mr. Zuckerberg to deliver evidence on his company’s actions.
On Capitol Hill, no official probe has been announced but lawmakers were clamoring for one.
Both Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Klobuchar, members of the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to panel Chairman Chuck Grassley urging him to call Mr. Zuckerberg before the committee.
Sen. Mark Warner also tweeted that Mr. Zuckerberg needs to appear before Congress. Mr. Warner, Virginia Democrat, is the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, which is also investigating broader collusion allegations between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Bloomberg reported that representatives from Facebook may brief lawmakers as early as Wednesday, but the meeting is tentative.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, urged Chairman Bob Goodlatte to call Cambridge founder-turned-whistleblower Christopher Wylie to testify about its work with the Trump campaign.
“The misuse of this information is concerning enough — but Cambridge also appears to have business connections to the Russian government,” Mr. Nadler wrote in a letter to Mr. Goodlatte.
Lawmakers are already frustrated with Facebook for previous claims they did not act on “fake news” stories and propaganda from foreign groups trying to interfere in the presidential race. Representatives from Facebook, as well as Google and Twitter, appeared before Congress last fall to answer for their companies, but none of the CEOs testified.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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