Was Facebook data's value 'literally nothing'?

There is a huge spectrum of opinion on the value of the Facebook data that Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan gave to Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL. Dr Kogan told a parliamentary committee: "Given what we know now, nothing, literally nothing - the idea that this data is accurate I would say is scientifically ridiculous." On the other hand, there have been suggestions this sort of data will allow computers to gain a profound understanding of people and their preferences. In a news conference on Tuesday, Cambridge Analytica's spokesman said the company had also found Dr Kogan's data set to be "virtually useless". The orthodox view among data scientists is that the use of social media data to target adverts on Facebook is in its infancy and not yet hugely effective - but Dr Kogan is going further than that, saying that it was completely without value.