https://phys.org/news/2018-07-cambridge-analytica-secrets-profit-good.html

Even if the boasts by former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix and the statements of whistleblower Christopher Wylie of the company's influence are overblown as Kogan claims, the firm nevertheless hit on something with its approach of harvesting data in order to influence voter behaviour. Before that approach becomes commonplace, we should survey the whole moral panic around the scandal and see what lessons can be learnt.

The first issue is our misunderstanding of consent. Kogan's data-scrape may have been unethical, but he didn't steal the data from those that used the app – they gave it willingly. When you use a social media platform you, by definition, are publishing your private life. More so, you effectively sell your private life on an open market through giving your consent for it to be monetised by that platform.