Whistleblower at centre of privacy scandal to testify in UK

LONDON — The Canadian whistleblower at the heart of the Facebook privacy scandal is set to testify before British lawmakers investigating the increasing rise of fake news.

Christopher Wylie has alleged that Cambridge Analytica harvested details of 50 million Facebook users and used the material in U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. It is alleged the material made it possible to micro-target users with campaign material.

At a news conference on Monday on a related issue, Wylie declined to answer questions about whether the data was also used in Britain by the campaign to leave the European Union. He said he would discuss the matter when he spoke to lawmakers from Parliament’s media committee on Tuesday.

Wylie’s allegations have forced policy-makers on both sides of the Atlantic to grapple with concerns that data collected by Facebook and other social-media companies are being misused.

The data scientist got his start working for Liberal leaders in Ottawa and was briefly contracted by the party in early 2016.

But the Liberals insist that after seeing a sample of his services, they decided not to move forward.