There’s little doubt Cambridge Analytica’s behavior was scandalous, but was it a scam?
If any of what is alleged is true, the firm and its leadership behaved unethically, and possibly illegally. But prominent journalists, academics and political practitioners have gone further, pronouncing Cambridge Analytica’s work itself to be a fraud.
Of course, neither they, nor I, are privy to the inner workings of the company, so we can’t say definitely whether or not they performed the work they claimed, nor whether or not the work itself meets any particular standard of professionalism.
Most of the criticism therefore has been directed at the theory and empirics behind the work Cambridge purports to do. And that resolves to two basic questions: CONT.
Mark Mellman (Mellman Group), The Hill