Facebook whistleblower will appear before MPs

The whistleblower at the centre of the Facebook data scandal will appear before MPs investigating the rise of fake news.

Christopher Wylie revealed Cambridge Analytica (CA) harvested details of 50 million users on the social networking site.

He claims the information was used to micro target voters during Donald Trump's presidential election campaign.

Mr Wylie has also cast doubt over the way the Leave campaign in the European Union referendum was run.

He held a press conference on Monday in the wake of allegations by his friend, Shahmir Sanni, that the official Brexit campaign broke strict spending rules during the European Union referendum.

A legal opinion obtained by lawyers representing the two men said whistleblower information provides grounds to suspect that the Vote Leave campaign broke electoral law during the 2016 EU referendum campaign.

The allegations have all been denied by Vote Leave and its former officials, who reject all accusations of wrongdoing.

Mr Wylie will give evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee on Tuesday about his role with CA as former director of research.

Committee chairman Damian Collins wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last week calling for him to appear before MPs.

The social network boss has said it was a mistake to rely on CA to delete tens of millions of Facebook users' data, as he apologised for the "major breach of trust".

MPs have also written to Alexander Nix, the suspended chief executive officer of CA, recalling him to Parliament after his previous appearance in February.