Britain's data protection watchdog is seeking a search warrant for the company accused of misusing information it gathered from millions of Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica, a London-based political consultancy that is owned by a UAE-linked company, is accused of gaining unauthorised access to the data of 50 million Facebook users.
The firm worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Brexit in the UK. It has also been tied to a social media campaign to discredit Qatar in the ongoing Gulf crisis.
Journalists have secretly recorded executives boasting about their ability to sway elections.
News of the scandal wiped nearly $40bn off the value of Facebook's shares on Monday.
Al Jazeera's Mereana Hond reports.
