Cambridge Analytica, the data consultancy firm accused of deliberately using personal Facebook users data for target advertising during the 2016 US elections announced that it will investigate and report all its activities around the world, which includes India.
A spokesperson for the company revealed that while the firm focuses primarily on its US operations, its parent company, SCL Elections handles operations in other parts of the globe.
All the national issues and national associations are part and parcel of the independent investigation. Rest assured, India, Kenya, Nigeria, all the other countries that SCL has been working in historically, will be investigated and reported on as part of the independent investigation,
he told reporters during a press conference.
The press conference occurred soon after an academic associated with the company, Aleksandr Kogan, provided information about an ongoing investigation into fake news to the UK Parliaments Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Kogan founded a company known as Global Science Research (GSR) which developed a third party app on Facebook that collected personal data from users who signed up to the app without their explicit approval. Kogan also accused Cambridge Analytica’s now-suspended CEO Alexander Nix of “total fabrication” when the latter denied making use of GSR’s data for Cambridge Analytica’s operations.
DCMS committee chair Damian Collins revealed that Nix denied receiving any kind of data from GSR in a hearing in February but this statement does not have “much credibility anymore” after Kogan’s testimony.
Additionally, Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica became a whistleblower last month after telling MPs during his hearing in front of the committee that the British firm worked “extensively” in India, to the point of considering the Congress as a member of its clientele.
Wylie also revealed on Twitter that Janata Dal (United) relied on Cambridge Analytica during the 2010 Bihar elections. He also revealed that Cambrige Analytica’s parent company SCL group carried out several caste surveys in Uttar Pradesh.
“I’ve been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCLs past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question? Yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like,” read Wylie’s tweet.
I’ve been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCL’s past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question – yes SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like. pic.twitter.com/v8tOmcmy3z
— Christopher Wylie (@chrisinsilico) March 28, 2018
His message also attached documents revealing that SCL India possessed a database of “over 600 districts and 7 lakh villages, which is constantly being updated”.
The company is able to carry out operations from its head office based in Ghaziabad and nine regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkatta, Patna and Pune.
“I don’t remember a national project but I know regionally. India’s so big that one state can be as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff there,” he said and volunteered to provide additional documentation to the committee on Cambridge Analytica.