Cambridge Analytica, the shadowy data firm

NEWYORK: STEVE BANNON HAD SERVED AS CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA’S VICE PRESIDENT. MICHAEL FLYNN HAS ALSO SERVED AS AN ADVISER TO THE COMPANY.

Cambridge Analytica, the shadowy data firm that helped elect Donald Trump, specialises in “psychographic” profiling, which it sells as a sophisticated way to digitally manipulate huge numbers of people on behalf of its clients. But apparently, when you’re trying to win a campaign, prostitutes, bribes and spies work pretty well too.

On Monday, Britain’s Channel 4 News ran an explosive exposé of the embattled company. Going undercover as a potential client, its reporter filmed Cambridge Analytica’s chief executive, Alexander Nix, talking about entrapping his clients’ opponents by sending “very beautiful” Ukranian sex workers to their homes. He spoke of offering bribes to candidates while secretly filming them and putting the footage online, of employing fake IDs and bogus websites.

This story came two days after a joint investigation by The New York Times and The Observer of London reported that Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission.

After days of revelations, there’s still a lot we don’t know about Cambridge Analytica.

Created in 2013, Cambridge Analytica is an offshoot of SCL Group, a British company that specialised in disinformation campaigns in the developing world. It’s mostly owned by the Mercer family, billionaire rightwing donors and strong Trump supporters.

Cambridge Analytica shared office space with Trump’s San Antonio-based digital operation, and took substantial credit for its success.

It has long been hard to judge how well psychographic profiling actually works. Many consider Cambridge Analytica overrated.

But whether or not Cambridge Analytica’s methodology works, the fact that the Trump campaign had a crew of hightech dirty tricksters on its payroll is significant.