Facebook suspends US-based analytics firm Crimson Hexagon over data concerns

Crimson Hexagon has had contracts in recent years to analyse public Facebook data for third-party clients and collected more than 1 trillion public social media posts from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr etc.
WASHINGTON: After the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Facebook has now suspended Boston-based data analytics company Crimson Hexagon over concerns that it harvested users' data.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal late on Friday, the social media giant was investigating whether the analytics firm's "contracts with the US government, a Russian non-profit organisation tied to the Kremlin and the Turkish government violate the platform's policies".

Crimson Hexagon has reportedly collected more than 1 trillion public social media posts from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and other online sources.
The company has had contracts in recent years to analyse public Facebook data for third-party clients, the report claimed.

It was co-founded by Harvard professor Gary King in 2007 who now leads Facebook`s independent research initiative titled "Social Science One" which is focused on preventing election interference, said the report.

"We are investigating the claims about Crimson Hexagon to see if they violated any of our policies," Ime Archibong, Facebook`s Vice President of Product Partnerships, said in a statement.

Facebook, however, said the firm didnt inappropriately obtain any Facebook or Instagram user data, adding that using the data for surveillance is a violation of the companys policies.