By Shreya Maskara
Cambridge Analytica founder and whistleblower Christopher Wylie testified before the UK parliament that the firm had worked in India and the Congress party was one of its clients. On Wednesday after the testimony, Wylie tweeted a list of past projects the Cambridge Analytica and its parent company-SCL Group- have undertaken in India, dating back to 2003.
Cambridge Analytica is currently under investigation in the US and UK for illegally harvesting millions of Facebook profiles, and for its role in the 2016 US presidential elections and the Brexit referendum.
What did Wylie testify?
Wylie, who told media outlets about how he worked with Cambridge academic Aleksandr Kogan to obtain user data, said under oath that he “believes” the Congress was one of the clients of the company and that they did a “regional” project together. Wylie was deposed on Tuesday in front of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons.
“They (Cambridge Analytica) worked extensively in India. They have an office in India,” Wylie said during his testimony.
Additionally, Labour MP Paul Farrelly, member of the member of the parliamentary committee also added during his questioning that India is one of the biggest markets for Facebook. ”Obviously, that’s a country which is rife with political discord and opportunities for destabilisation,” he added.
Wylie also added that Dan Muresan, head of Elections at SCL had been working in India before he died in Kenya.
Wylie’s Tweet
On Wednesday after his testimony, Wylie tweeted a series of images showcasing the work SCL has done in India. “This is what modern colonialism looks like,” he said.
https://twitter.com/chrisinsilico/status/978921850448371715
The tweets show SCL’s past projects in India, including the fact that the company has a database of 600 districts and 700 villages in India. Projects listed on the slide deck include Uttar Pradesh (2012, 2011, 2007), Bihar (2007), Kerala (2007), West Bengal (2007), Assam (2007), Jharkhand (2007), Madhya Pradesh (2003), Rajasthan (2003) and 2009 National Elections. The deck goes on to detail that SCL helps “clients to identify target key groups” and “influence their behaviour to obtain a desired outcome.”
Following the release of this information, the ministry of electronics and information technology on Wednesday has issued an inquiry to Facebook, asking whether personal data of Indian citizens has been used by Cambridge Analytica or any such entity. The government has asked for a response by April 7, according to a statement.
India has over 250 million Facebook users, the largest number of any country in the world.
Also Read: Explainer: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the “biggest breach” in tech history
BJP attacks, Congress denies claims
The Congress has denied all claims about availing any services from Cambridge Analytica and has instead accused the BJP of using the services of the company.
Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters he thinks Congress and Rahul Gandhi must apologise to the nation. “Today he stands exposed,” he added in an interview to reporters.
In response, Congress communications-in charge Randeep Surjewala said the minister is “perpetually lying” and challenged the party to “show all proof and then register an FIR.” He added he thinks, Congress is fearful of being “exposed” if they probe further.
The Congress has accused BJP of availing the services of Cambridge Analytica for various campaigns in 2010 and during the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. BJP denied all claims saying that Cambridge Analytica was founded in 2013 and hence there is no way they could have availed these services in 2010.
Earlier in the week, the Congress also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using his app to provide personal information of Indians to foreign companies. Rahul tweeted saying Modi was “misusing PM position to build personal database with data on millions of Indians via the NaMo App.” He added, ”This data belongs to India, not Modi.”
Hi! My name is Narendra Modi. I am India's Prime Minister. When you sign up for my official App, I give all your data to my friends in American companies.
Ps. Thanks mainstream media, you're doing a great job of burying this critical story, as always.https://t.co/IZYzkuH1ZH
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 25, 2018
Also Read: Cambridge Analytica Controversy Update: Zuckerberg apologises; BJP, Congress trade blame
What is the truth?
While the Congress and the BJP have continued to play the blame game, as usual, it is unclear where the truth lies. Wylie has offered to provide the committee “documentation” on India, to which Farrelly responded that he thinks India is a country that doesn’t need any more added “tensions.”
Several news reports revealed that both the BJP and Congress were in talks with the firm to set up contracts for the 2019 general poll. Additionally, both parties have also ignored the fact that the website of Cambridge Analytica’s India partner, Ghaziabad-based Ovleno Business Intelligence (OBI), lists the BJP and Congress as clients on its website, which has since been taken down in the country.
In footage revealed by Channel 4, during hidden recordings filmed between November 2017 to January 2018, Cambridge Analytica executives were heard boasting about the fact that Cambridge Analytica and its parent company Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) has worked for over 200 elections in the world, including India.
However, two Indian directors of SCL, Avneesh Kumar Rai and Amrish Tyagi have reportedly spoken to the media, revealing that they have undertaken election work before 2011—the year SCL was set up in India—and often the company and its executives have taken credit for the Indian directors’ Indian election experience.
Both Tyagi and Rai have specifically added that their relationship with SCL only started seven to eight years ago.
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