Disgraced data firm Cambridge Analytica is shutting down

A total of 87 million people around the world, including 64,000 Kiwis, had their data compromised in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Photo/File.

International media is reporting that the analytics firm behind the Facebook data scandal is closing down.

The Guardian said this morning that Cambridge Analytica and its parent company SCL was starting insolvency proceedings.

"The company is immediately ceasing all operations and the boards have applied to appoint insolvency practitioners Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP to act as the independent administrator for Cambridge Analytica," the company said in a statement obtained by the Guardian.

Cambridge Analytica denied any wrongdoing and blamed negative media attention for its closure.

A total of 87 million people around the world, including 64,000 Kiwis, had their data compromised in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The personality quiz app thisisyourdigitallife, developed by University of Cambridge professor Aleksandr Kogan, collected data about people who installed it, along with data about their Facebook friends, without their authorisation.

Kogan then gave the harvested data to Cambridge Analytica, which allegedly used it to target Facebook users with political propaganda in the 2016 United States general election.

Fallout from the scandal led to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appearing before US Congress to discuss the issue of user privacy.

The issue has had repercussions beyond Facebook, with other social media companies updating their privacy agreements in the aftermath of the scandal.