CEO of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix speaks at the 2016 Concordia Summit, New York City (Getty Images)
Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix, who was suspended Tuesday pending an investigation into his conduct, reportedly used racist slurs in an internal company email, The Times of London reports.
According to the report, published Wednesday, Nix referred to two potential clients, both of whom were black, as “n—–s”; neither the identities of the individuals nor the recipients of the email were disclosed.
Nix was suspended on Tuesday after Britain’s Channel 4 published a video in which he was seen bragging to an undercover reporter that Cambridge Analytica has used bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians on behalf of the company’s clients.
“Mr. Nix’s recent comments… do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation,” the company said in a statement after the video was made public.
Nix’s comments came to light amid a separate controversy this week regarding Cambridge Analytica’s role in Facebook’s massive data leak.
The firm paid a University of Cambridge professor for information on 50 million unwitting Facebook users. The New York Times wrote on Saturday that Cambridge Analytica used the data to target voters during the 2014 U.S. midterm elections, and during the 2016 Presidential election on behalf of the Trump campaign.
According to the Times, Cambridge Analytica also received a $15 million investment from Republican donor Robert Mercer in 2014, and that it “wooed” his political adviser Steve Bannon, the ex-executive chairman of Breitbart News, who later served as Donald Trump’s chief White House strategist until being fired in the summer of 2017.
Cambridge Analytica has since been suspended by Facebook.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a 10-year road map for the world's biggest social network, including projects in virtual reality and artificial intelligence, at its annual developers' conference F8 in San Francisco.
Facebook
Zuckerberg said he believes virtual reality headsets will be no different than traditional pairs of glasses in 10 years.
Screenshot/Facebook's F8 Live Stream
The company released a reference design for a camera shaped like a U.F.O. that can capture 360-degree video.
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Facebook Messenger is about to get an army of bots. Chatbots, which are programs powered by artificial intelligence that do simple things, are going to integrate into Facebook's instant messaging system. It makes it easier for companies like CNN to send you personalized stories and other tasks.
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Facebook is obsessed with live video, and it wants you to be able to stream live from any device -- even a drone. To mark a move opening up the programming to Facebook live streaming, Zuckerberg flew a drone out on stage that filmed everybody in the packed conference hall.
Screenshot/Facebook F8 Live Stream
Zuckerberg kicked off the conference by making a veiled jab at Donald Trump. “I hear fearful voices calling for building walls ... Instead of building walls, we can help build bridges," he said, as he explained that connecting the world is key to Facebook's future. (Maybe Trump won't notice: His preferred social network is Twitter, after all.)
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CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes you’ll watch VR on your regular old Warby Parker glasses in 10 years, see the other big announcements Facebook made at its annual F8 conference
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a 10-year road map for the world's biggest social network, including projects in virtual reality and artificial intelligence, at its annual developers' conference F8 in San Francisco.