Facebook stock continued its slide on Tuesday, falling more than 2.5% to close at $168.15 per share on March 20, as investors worried that the growing scandal around political researcher Cambridge Analytica could lead to stricter government scrutiny.
Facebook shares fell 7% ($12.53 each) to $172.56 per share on Monday, shedding about $36 billion in market cap, after news broke that Cambridge Analytica, which had helped the Trump campaign in 2016, had used personal information from more than 50 million Facebook users to develop techniques to predict voter behavior. Cambridge Analytica is owned by former White House adviser Steve Bannon and wealthy Republican donor Robert Mercer.
Over the past two days Facebook shares have plunged nearly 10% ($16.94 each) from $185.09 per share on Monday to $168.15 on Tuesday.
Both Republican and Democratic legislators have expressed concerns about the way the social media company handles its user data and have called for separate inquiries. On Tuesday, Bloomberg said the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into whether Facebook violated an earlier agreement with the agency regarding user privacy.
Also on Tuesday, Cambridge Analytica suspended its CEO Alexander Nix, after a British TV program apparently showed him offering to entrap politicians for a prospective client.
