By ESOMAR

On February 22, CEISMU, the Uruguayan Association of market researchers, organized a special session in the anteroom of the Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies, in the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, bringing together researchers, academics, journalists and members of the Uruguayan government to discuss – and debate – the role of polls and their relationship to democracy.

By Finn Raben

Over the weekend the New York Times and Observer newspapers reported that data mining and analysis company Cambridge Analytica, a company that had been employed with considerable success by Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential campaign, had illegally harvested 50 million Facebook profiles in order to build a powerful software program to predict and influence choices at the ballot box. The Observer reports that data was collected via a digital app on the Facebook platform where hundreds of thousands of users were paid to take a personality test and agreed to have their data collected for academic use. However, the app also collected the information of the test-takers’ Facebook friends.

ESOMAR was delighted to to be once again a partner of AMRA (The African Market Research Association) jointly with other African market research associations, NIMRA (Nigeria), MSRA (Kenya) and SAMRA (South Africa) in producing the 2^nd AMRA Foruym held in Nairobi on 22-23 February.

The GDPR is around the corner, and with it come the new requirements. Likely one the most disrupting features of the new law is the requirement to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO). This is a new role created to advise organisations on their handling of personal data and acts as the primary contact person for the data protection authorities. While a DPO is not mandatory for every organisation, the regulators encourage organisations to appoint a DPO on a voluntary basis.

Research Now SSI Establishes Tax-Deductible Fund To Benefit Families of Davao Fire Victims which the ESOMAR Foundation Inaugurates With €10,000 Donation

Dallas, Texas, (February 15, 2018) – Research Now SSI, the global leader in digital market research data and marketing services, announces that it has established a tax-deductible fund to collect donations for the families of its 37 employees who perished in the Dec. 23, 2017 NCCC Mall fire in Davao, Philippines, where the company had a call center. The company is pleased also to announce that the ESOMAR Foundation has made the first donation to the fund for €10,000.