President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign is reportedly adding Matt Oczkowski, the former head of product at Cambridge Analytica, to oversee the campaign’s data management team.
Sources familiar with the hiring told Politico that the Oczkowski accepted the campaign’s offer in January and payments to his company, HuMn Behavior, will begin this month. He spent 2015-2018 at Cambridge Analytica before the firm closed its doors after being suspended by Facebook for failing to follow the platform’s data management policies. (RELATED: Cambridge Analytica Announces Its Closing)
“Over the past several months, Cambridge Analytica has been the subject of numerous unfounded accusations,” the company said in a statement announcing the shuttering. “And, despite the Company’s efforts to correct the record, has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas.”
Before closing, the firm sought to push back on Facebook’s suspension.
Founder and CEO of US online social media and social networking service Facebook Mark Zuckerberg reacts upon his arrival for a meeting with European Commission vice-president in charge for Values and Transparency, in Brussels, on February 17, 2020. (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
“We did not hack Facebook or break any laws — SCL Elections licensed data from a research company called GSR which obtained the data via a tool provided by Facebook, a common practice at the time,” the company wrote in response to Facebook CEO and Chairman Mark Zuckerberg’s April testimony before the United States Senate.
Cambridge also faced pressure from the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office to turn over user data it had collected and used in the 2016 presidential election.
Multiple Democratic presidential primary candidates have lambasted the 2016 Trump campaign for working with Cambridge Analytica.
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The Trump campaign declined the Daily Caller’s request for comment on the Oczkowski hiring.