Cambridge Analytica, the UK political consultancy that collected data on millions of Facebook users without their consent, is shutting down.
On Wednesday, Cambridge Analytica said it had no choice but to cease operations, citing bad press. It's also preparing to file for bankruptcy.
"The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company's customers and suppliers," it said in a statement. "As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business."
The controversy dates back several years, when researcher Aleksandr Kogan created a personality test app taken by some 270,000 Facebook users. He then sold their data to Cambridge Analytica in violation of Facebook's terms of service. Facebook's developer rules at the time, however, meant that Kogan's app scraped the data of the 270,000 users and their friends, affecting as many as 87 million Facebook users.
Facebook closed that loophole in 2014. But Cambridge Analytica used the data for political targeting on GOP campaigns like that of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
President Donald Trump's campaign also hired Cambridge Analytica during the 2016 election, though Cambridge Analytica said it did not use the Facebook data for Trump's campaign.
Facebook learned about the unauthorized data scraping in 2015, at which time Cambridge Analytica promised to destroy the information. In March, news reports indicated that it had not, prompting a media firestorm around Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.
In its statement, Cambridge Analytica said the accusations against the company are "unfounded." The political consultancy claims it only collected data on 30 million Facebook users. It "has been vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas," the company added.
In March, Cambridge Analytica suspended its CEO, Alex Nix. However, Nix is reportedly leading a new company called Emerdata.
What will happen to Cambridge Analytica's intellectual property isn't clear. But UK authorities are investigating the firm over its harvesting of Facebook users' information. One member of British parliament tweeted on Wednesday that Cambridge Analytica should not be allowed to delete any company data due to its closing.