A Facebook board member denied claims he met the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower 2 years before the scandal exploded
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Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen.
A prominent Silicon Valley investor and Facebook board member has denied claims that he met with a Cambridge Analytica representative as early as 2016.
The Observer reported that Marc Andreessen, a founding partner at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and current Facebook board member, hosted a meeting with former Cambridge Analytica employee Chris Wylie over concerns about the way the political consultancy was manipulating people's data.Wylie himself would go on to detail how this worked when he blew the whistle on Cambridge Analytica in March 2018. According to the report, Andreessen stayed in touch with Wylie right up until he went public.
The impetus for the meeting was reportedly to find out how Cambridge Analytica was getting hold of people's information, and to work out a technical fix from Facebook's side. Andreessen was also reportedly interested in any connections between Cambridge Analytica and Russia.But Andreessen has denied ever meeting Wylie. He said in a statement:"The suggestion that I had or hosted a meeting involving Christopher Wylie is flatly and totally untrue. I have never met Wylie in my life. After the election of 2016, a mutual colleague suggested by email that I meet with Wylie, but that meeting never took place. Later, in early 2018, Wylie reached out to me on Twitter and asked for a meeting, which I turned down."
Business Insider has asked a representative for Andreessen Horowitz whether the investor ever met others from Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook told The Observer it had "no record" of such a meeting.It is true, however, that Facebook would have been aware of Cambridge Analytica's activities as early as 2015, when The Guardian reported how the company had hoovered up Facebook data to support Ted Cruz's campaign.
Facebook told The Observer: "Facebook was not aware of the transfer of data from Kogan/GSR [Kogan's business Global Science Research] to Cambridge Analytica until December 2015. When Facebook learned about Kogan's breach of Facebook's data use policies, we took action."
Wylie did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.Copyright © 2021. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.
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