Cambridge Analytica was founded in 2013. For the purpose of accuracy, this timeline displays all contractual and legal agreements as made in the name of its associated entity, SCL Elections.


 

2013

August

Christopher Wylie begins part-time at SCL Elections.
 

2014

May

We start a research project with GSR.

July

Christopher Wylie stops working with us.

Late 2014

We take legal action against Wylie for breach of contract and potential intellectual property theft.
 

2015

August

Wylie signs a legal document to say he holds no material from us.

December

The Guardian breaks that GSR’s data was in breach of Facebook’s terms of service, and potentially the Data Protection Act.

Facebook contacts both us and GSR to understand the data and asks us to delete it.
 

2016

July

GSR asks us to verify that we have deleted all of their data.

August

We take legal action against GSR for licensing us illegally acquired data.

November

We reach a settlement with GSR.
 

2017

March

We complete an internal audit to confirm that all GSR data (including all derivatives and backups) have been deleted. We certify to Facebook that we hold no data from GSR.

The ICO visits our London office. They ask for information on our structure, data, and the legal basis for its processing. We share this.

September

The ICO writes to us about processing data on US nationals in the UK. We exchange numerous letters.

October

The ICO writes to us about alleged work on the Brexit campaign. We cooperate fully.
 

2018

March

The ICO requests access to our systems, arguing a whistleblower informed them we still hold GSR data. We tell them we deleted all GSR data and certified it to Facebook, and offer to share all information on our interactions with GSR.

Facebook suspends Cambridge Analytica and SCL’s accounts, pending further investigation. Christopher Wylie’s interviews are then published – nearly four years after his relationship with us ended.