Brittany Kaiser
Brittany Kaiser is an American former business development director for Cambridge Analytica which collapsed after details of its misuse of Facebook data were revealed to have potentially impacted voting in the UK Brexit referendum and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Kaiser testified about her involvement in the work of Cambridge Analytica before the UK Parliament and in private before the Mueller Investigation.[1][2]
Brittany Kaiser | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1986 (age 37–38) Houston, Texas |
Early life
Kaiser was born in Houston and grew up in Lincoln Park on the North Side of Chicago.[3][4] Her father worked in real estate development and her mother worked for Enron.[5]
Kaiser graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 2005, then went on to study at the University of Edinburgh, the City University of Hong Kong, the University of London’s Birkbeck College, and earned certificates of study at the World Bank Institute and US Institute of Peace. She later obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from Middlesex University.[6][5][7]
Career
While she was studying in Scotland, Kaiser took time off to work on Barack Obama's media team during his presidential campaign in 2007. She also worked for Amnesty International as a lobbyist appealing for an end to crimes against humanity.[7][8]
Between February 2015 and January 2018, Kaiser worked full-time for the SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, as director of business development. During her time at Cambridge Analytica, Kaiser worked under senior management, including CEO Alexander Nix.[5] Following the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Kaiser fled to Thailand. She later testified before the British Parliament about Cambridge Analytica and privacy threats posed by Facebook.[3] In April 2018, Kaiser started a Facebook campaign appealing for transparency, called #OwnYourData.[8]
Kaiser is one of the subjects of the Netflix documentary The Great Hack, talking about her work with Cambridge Analytica.[9][6] Kaiser's memoir, Targeted: The Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower's Inside Story of How Big Data, Trump, and Facebook Broke Democracy and How It Can Happen Again, was published by Harper in October 2019.[10]
In an interview with the BBC, Kaiser said she wanted Facebook to ban political advertising.[11]
See also
- Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum
- Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2019)
References
- ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (February 17, 2019). "Mueller questions Cambridge Analytica director Brittany Kaiser". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ "Former Cambridge Analytica director, Brittany Kaiser, dumps more evidence of Brexit's democratic trainwreck". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ a b "Brittany Kaiser's work with Cambridge Analytica helped elect Donald Trump. She's hoping the world will forgive her". Washington Post.
- ^ "Netflix's 'The Great Hack' Spotlights Data Mining Whistleblower Brittany Kaiser". Romper.
- ^ a b c Debnath, Neela (August 13, 2019). "Brittany Kaiser net worth: How much is Cambridge Analytica whistleblower worth?". Express.co.uk.
- ^ a b Dwilson, Stephanie Dube (July 24, 2019). "Brittany Kaiser Now: Where Is She Today & How Old Is She?".
- ^ a b Santiago, Ellyn (February 17, 2019). "Brittany Kaiser: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know".
- ^ a b EDT, Jason Murdock On 4/17/18 at 12:30 PM (April 17, 2018). "Who is Brittany Kaiser? Cambridge Analytica whistleblower teases new revelations". Newsweek. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Robinson, Abby (August 1, 2019). "Brittany Kaiser from Netflix's The Great Hack – What happened to her next?". Digital Spy.
- ^ Kaiser, Brittany. (2019). Targeted: My Inside Story of Cambridge Analytica and How Trump and Facebook Broke Democracy. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062965790. OCLC 1111158293.
- ^ Wakefield, Jane (November 6, 2019). "Great Hack insider: Ban Facebook political ads" – via www.bbc.com.