Cambridge Analytica: A Case Study on Data, Ethics, and Facebook

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Cambridge Analytica case, examining its business opportunity, ethical breaches, and the impact on Facebook and society. The report delves into Cambridge Analytica's data mining practices, its role in political advertising, and the resulting ethical and legal challenges. It explores the decisions made by the company's CEO, Alex Nix, both before and after the scandal, considering the value of data in influencing decision-making in business and politics. Furthermore, the report examines the implications of the scandal for Facebook, discussing the challenges the brand faces and the importance of public goodwill and transparency. The report concludes with a discussion of the role of marketing ethics and corporate social responsibility in building and maintaining a positive brand image. The report also provides details on the services Cambridge Analytica provided for Trump's campaign.

MK7040 MARKETING IN A
DIGITAL AGE AND
CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

TABLE OF CONTENT
• Introduction
• What was the business opportunity for Cambridge Analytica? How did the company capture it?
• Stand in the shoes of CEO Alex Nix: What could have been done better BEFORE the scandal in 2017 and
earlier? What could have been done better AFTER the scandal broke (early 2018)?
• How do you judge the value of data for influencing decision making, in business as well as in politics?
• Explain the work and service Cambridge Analytica provided Trump’s campaign. Apart from the legal
side, in your perspective, was it right for Cambridge Analytica to provide this work for Trump?
• How do public goodwill/license to operate and data-driven technology companies interrelate?
• Facebook continues to face major ethical and legal challenges. What challenges Facebook brand is
facing today? And what implications these challenges and the case of Cambridge Analytica have for
the future of Facebook from your perspective?
• Conclusion
• References

INTRODUCTION
Over the years, marketing has been playing a crucial role for building relationships with customers. Basically, it is
done to bring awareness among targeted audience about the new and existing products and services offered by
a company with the help of different media channels. In present investigating report, is based on corporate
social responsibility and ethics that are required by a company to work with and develop when it comes to build
a posititve brand image in front of the society. Also, company which has been taken into consideration is
Cambridge Analytica, which is a British Political Consulting organisation (Parental Company is SCL Group) found
in the year of 2013 by Alexander Nix and headquartered at London, United Kingdom. In starting of 2018, a major
scandal took place where this company (Cambridge Analytica) harvested information of many individuals who
had profiles on one of the famous and largest social media website/application i.e. Facebook. This was done
without their consent also, it was uti political advertising (What is Cambridge Analytica? The firm at the centre of
Facebook's data breach, 2020). Also, report will be delivering answers to a number of questions and these are
presented in the main body.

WHAT WAS THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY FOR
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA? HOW DID THE COMPANY
CAPTURE IT?
Cambridge Analytica, which is one of the crucial a British political consulting firm that combined data mining, misappropriation of
digital assets, data analysis with strategic communication and data brokerage during the electoral processes.
Mission Statement of the Cambridge Analytica is “To offer services to businesses and political parties who want to “change
audience behaviour”.”. Including this, another mission that came in front was “to address the vacuum in the US Republican political
market" that became apparent when Mitt Romney was vanquished in the 2012 presidential political race.
Purpose of the business opportunity: In present context, the primal purpose of developing and seeking these opportunities was to
bring awareness or to change the public’s behaviour towards different featured politics played by various parties (Mostly their
clients) of United Kingdom and so on.
Ethics vs Profits: If it is talked about the ethics then what Cambridge Analytica did was specifically wrong because pulling out
information without taking prior authorisation from the account holders (Public of United Kingdom) or without their consent was
considered to be an act of breaching different rules and regulations in relation to data protection like Data Protection Act 1998.

CONTINUE…
Brand awareness/ Market leaders: There were ample number of decisions made by Cambridge Analytica’s
owner in order to grab the attention of potential clients from all over the world through data mining and other
techniques, where The promise of big data analytics is its ability to find latent patterns in gigantic data stores and
this led Cambridge to go through various issues but it also raised opportunities as well to build up the brand
awareness. Basically, market leader of Cambridge Analytica i.e. Alex Nix utilised information from different social
media channels like Facebook, in contrast to governments, have become custodians of troves of data by
persuading customers in the last couple of decades.

STAND IN THE SHOES OF CEO ALEX NIX: WHAT COULD HAVE
BEEN DONE BETTER BEFORE THE SCANDAL IN 2017 AND
EARLIER? WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER AFTER
THE SCANDAL BROKE (EARLY 2018)?
If it is talked about Alex Nix, who is the founder of Cambridge Analytica then before when the scandal took place in the year of 2017, it
was important for him to take into consideration of offering potential targeted audience with consent form and deliver the information of
how and where the personal information is going to be utilised. With the help of this, it is may be possible that chances of breaching of
different rules and regulations in relation to data protection. On the other hand, another possible action which was taken into
consideration by him was to conduct different Corporate Social Responsibility related activities in order to build a much more positive
and effective brand image in front of the society.
Corporate Social Responsibility: It alludes to the requirement for organizations to be acceptable corporate residents. CSR includes going
past the law's necessities in securing the earth and adding to social government assistance.
Why is CSR implemented: Reason of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility is to build trust among public and society of the
different services offered by business organisations and to deliver them information that there is no unethical activity has been
considered.

CONTINUE…
CSR Strategies that could have been used and for what purpose: In present context, it can be said that CSR
strategy, which would be utilised by Cambridge Analytica is Supporting Volunteer Efforts. As it will directly help
Cambridge Analytica in reaching to all new level of building trust among society. Basically, it will help company in
noble cause consistently need assistance. Savvy business pioneers realize that being engaged with the network
in a gainful manner is useful for the organization as well. Offer representatives the chance to enable a nearby
school to plant trees or work with the city board on tending to vagrancy in the zone. Business pioneers have the
chance to pick where to spend volunteer endeavors to best assistance the neighborhood with the organization.
The significant thing for organizations is to pick a reason and contribute time. With the help of this, it can easily
be said that company will effectively develop trust and brand awareness among public and gain the lost
reputation in much effective and in efficient manner.

HOW DO YOU JUDGE THE VALUE OF DATA FOR
INFLUENCING DECISION MAKING, IN BUSINESS AS
WELL AS IN POLITICS?
Data plays an essential role for every company as it aware them about the detailed information about their
customers or other related one. It has also been seen that usage of data simply helps company in taking rightful
decision that ultimately contributes in attaining success no matter they belongs to which industry.
The meaning of CSR, and Social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is determined as the effective practices that are incorporated by businesses with
the motive of contributing their proportion in the societal development as well as making their positive image
across the world.
Decisions
As the respected company named as Cambridge Analytica deals in political field it can be said this company has
making many decision at regular with the motive of developing their positive image among public and society.
Here, it can be said that before making decisions towards the same these people are required to follow or
adhere with the all legislations and norms while gathering the required information in the appropriate manner.

EXPLAIN THE WORK AND SERVICE
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA PROVIDED TRUMP’S
CAMPAIGN. APART FROM THE LEGAL SIDE,
IN YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WAS IT RIGHT FOR
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA TO PROVIDE THIS
WORK FOR TRUMP?The information investigation firm that worked with Donald Trump's political race group and the triumphant
Brexit crusade gathered a large number of Facebook profiles of US voters, in one of the tech monster's greatest
ever information breaks, and utilized them to manufacture an amazing programming system to foresee and
impact decisions at the voting booth. An informant has uncovered to the Observer how Cambridge Analytica –
an organization possessed by the support investments very rich person Robert Mercer, and headed at the time
by Trump's key consultant Steve Bannon – utilized individual data taken without authorisation in mid 2014 to
assemble a framework that could profile singular US voters, so as to target them with customized political
promotions.
An ethical view: Basically, what Cambridge Analytica did was not that much effective in nature and it was pretty
much clear that delivering information to Trump’s party was ethically not appropriate and this is why, it was
needed by Cambridge Analytica to deliver the information to all the account holders that their personal
information will be utilised for political purpose.

HOW DO PUBLIC GOODWILL/LICENSE TO OPERATE AND
DATA-DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES INTERRELATE?
Data driven technology companies refers to those one who contains confidential data of the users. One of the common data driven
technology oriented company is Facebook which has larger base of the customers/user who shares their information with this
medium by simply trusting them allot. With reference to the present scenario, it has analysed that Facebook has breached the trust
of its users by sharing their core information with the political company named as Cambridge Analytica. This simply depicts that this
incident has developed negative image of the company in front of its user as they started losing their trust over it. Moreover, it has
been analysed that businesses dealing in this sector are required to focus on considering two main elements that is transparency
and social responsibility. Both of them are explained below one after another.
Transparency
Furthermore, it can be said that it is highly important for the business organisation dealing data driven technology in order to
maintain transparency with its customers so that they can sustain for the longer time within the same sector.
Social responsibility
It is considered as the social responsibility of Facebook to remain loyal with these users so that they can trust the same company for
longer period of time.

FACEBOOK CONTINUES TO FACE MAJOR ETHICAL AND
LEGAL CHALLENGES. WHAT CHALLENGES FACEBOOK BRAND
IS FACING TODAY? AND WHAT IMPLICATIONS THESE
CHALLENGES AND THE CASE OF CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA
HAVE FOR THE FUTURE OF FACEBOOK FROM YOUR
PERSPECTIVE?
Facebook, which is one of the crucial social media tool that was initiated by Mark Zuckerberg did not went
through any sort of issue previously in relation to data leaking or any other challenge in relation to the same.
Therefore, it can clearly be said that company was conducting all the activities in ethical manner. Also, it has
been analysed that there were many cases came in front like March 2018: The United Nations cites Facebook's
role in the slaughter of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, March 2018: Cambridge Analytica story makes highlights
in different newspapers.

CONCLUSION
With the help of above mentioned report, it is being concluded that marketing should be done considering
different ethics. Also, it is much needed by an organisation to keep on conducting different CSR activities as this
may help them in sustaining within the market for a longer period of time through developing an effective and
positive image infront of the customer base and soceity. Away with this, it is also summarised that for a business
company when it comes to manage it’s brand inage then this could effectively be done through developing
marketing communication strategy which may also support all the ethics, rules and regulations linked with the
society.