Robert Epstein, a Senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, published an op-ed recently claiming that Cambridge Analytica are not the problem in the latest user data scandal, but tech giants Facebook and Google themselves are.
In an article published on the Daily Caller, Epstein discussed the methods that Cambridge Analytica used to gain access to the personal data of 50 million Facebook users. Epstein states that the methods Cambridge used are not very powerful and are trivial compared to real threats on the internet:
Epstein says that this is not a big deal as “everybody does it,” noting that Facebook itself brags about being able to “drive a successful campaign” and target “constituents and supporters.”
Epstein notes that during the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton had access to a far greater amount of digital data than President Trump did, yet Clinton still lost the election:
Epstein stated that the biggest factor in influencing the public is the platform they view information on, such as Facebook and Google, who decide exactly what the public sees:
Read the full piece in the Daily Caller here.
