The embattled political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica announced yesterday that it would cease most operations and file for bankruptcy amid growing legal and political scrutiny of its business practices and work for Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, the New York Times reported. The decision was made less than two months after Cambridge Analytica and Facebook became embroiled in a data-harvesting scandal that compromised the personal information of up to 87 million people. In a statement posted to its website, Cambridge Analytica said that the controversy had driven away virtually all of the company’s customers, forcing it to file for bankruptcy in both the U.S. and Britain. The elections division of Cambridge’s British affiliate, SCL Group, will also shut down, the company said.
