The Canadian whistleblower who claimed that information of more than 50 million Facebook users was inappropriately used during the U.S. election has been blocked by the social media giant.
READ MORE: Canada’s privacy watchdog raises ‘serious’ concerns over Facebook data scandal
Christopher Wylie, a 28-year-old data expert originally from British Columbia, attracted international attention this week after reporting to media outlets that consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica inappropriately harvested data for the election campaign of U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a statement to Global News, Facebook confirmed that Wylie has been suspended from both Instagram and Facebook.
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“Mr. Wylie has refused to cooperate with us until we lift the suspension on his account,” the statement read.
“Given he said he ‘exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles,’ we cannot do this at this time.”
Wylie tweeted that Facebook had banned him from Instagram on Monday.
He posted a screenshot of Instagram’s login page, which read the message: “Your account has been disabled for violating our terms.”
And on Tuesday, Wylie retweeted British MP Damian Collins’ photo, which showed that messages the Canadian sent to a Facebook friend are no longer visible.
“I’ve been deleted,” he wrote.
Wylie, who used to work for Cambridge Analytica, explained his decision to reveal the data use in an interview with The Observer over the weekend.
READ MORE: Canadian whistleblower was axed by Liberals over data harvesting ideas
“It was a grossly unethical experiment because you are playing with an entire country, the psychology of an entire country, without their consent or awareness,” Wylie said.
Reports of the data misuse have led to international criticism of Facebook, with officials from several countries demanding the company come clean about its data collection practices.
WATCH: Facebook data reportedly misused to sway voters in 2016 election
On Tuesday, the British government asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appear before a committee.
Canadian privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien also called the reports concerning, and said he will seek further information from the company.