Sarah Maria St. John
What was Cambridge Analytica? The Anatomy of a Controversy
In 2018, a joint investigation by The New York Times and The Guardian unveiled a massive data scandal in which millions of Facebook users’ personal information was collected without their consent by the company Cambridge Analytica. While Cambridge Analytica’s questionable political activities had already been reported on for years, it wasn’t until 2018 that the company’s dealings began to arouse fears of Big Tech en masse, raising new concerns about its culpability in the Trump campaign, Brexit, and Russian misinformation. Utilizing coverage from both news outlets between 2015 and 2022, our research explores how media coverage of the Cambridge Analytica scandal changed over time, and in particular, why 2018 proved to be such a salient moment for the news to break.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you so much for your generous donation! I am so excited to continue my research with Professor Kelkar this summer as we work towards article publication. My experience in URAP thus far has given me the irreplaceable opportunity to further develop my research skills as I prepare for law school. In a time where fears of Big Tech still dominate the cultural zeitgeist, it feels more important than ever to understand the manner in which our media reports on such developments. Thank you for your generosity, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue working on this project.