Washington (CNN) Facebook has announced it is suspending Cambridge Analytica, a data firm with ties to President Donald Trump's campaign, over concerns about violations of the social media site's policies.

On Friday, Facebook's vice president and deputy general counsel, Paul Grewal, said in a detailed statement that a University of Cambridge psychology professor, Aleksandr Kogan, had passed Facebook user data he gained through an app on to third-parties, including Cambridge Analytica -- a breach of the social media site's policies on protecting people's information.

Grewal said in the statement that after the discovery of this violation in 2015, Facebook "demanded certifications from Kogan and all parties he had given data to that the information had been destroyed."

Despite telling the company that the data was destroyed, the Facebook statement said it recently received reports that indicated otherwise and was suspending Cambridge Analytica, its parent company Strategic Communication Laboratories, Kogan and another person he shared the information with, Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies Inc.

"We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information," Grewal's statement reads. "We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens. We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior."

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