FACEBOOK boss Mark Zuckerberg should answer to Parliament over allegations that vote manipulation firm Cambridge Analytica harvested personal details from more than 50 million of his site’s users, a senior MP said today.

Digital, culture, media and sport committee chairman Damian Collins said he would be recalling Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix over “false statements” made to the committee.

The data mining firm, which played a key role in analysing voter behaviour in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum and US general election campaigns, was passed personal data from Facebook apps without the consent of the individuals, according to a whistleblower.

Chris Wylie, a former research director at Cambridge Analytica, told Channel 4 News that a so-called data grab had been carried out on more than 50 million profiles in 2014.

Facebook vice president Paul Grewal said University of Cambridge professor Dr Aleksandr Kogan had passed on information to Cambridge Analytica and others after launching a Facebook app called thisisyourdigitallife.

But, despite assurances at the time this was discovered in 2015 that the data had been destroyed, Facebook was recently informed this had not happened.

Mr Kogan is alleged to have been involved in the data grab, using his company Global Science Research to accrue information.

Facebook said Mr Kogan, Cambridge Analytica, its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories and Mr Wylie's accounts would all be suspended “pending further information.”

Mr Wylie said he had been suspended by Facebook “for blowing the whistle on something they have known privately for two years.”