Wylie: Cambridge Analytica group worked with politicians
WHISTLE-BLOWER SAID INDIAN PARTIES WANTED CASTE INFORMATION FOR ‘DESIRED OUTCOME’
Christopher Wylie, who blew the lid off the Facebook user personal data being illegally used for political purposes, yesterday said his former employer Cambridge Analytica had an Indian arm and conducted election research on behalf of some parties including the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), now a BJP ally, for “desired outcome”.
Wylie said SCL Group, the parent organisation of Cambridge Analytica, has its office headquartered in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad and its regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune.
“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,” Wylie tweeted.
He posted two pictures of what looks like slides of a pitch presentation of SCL India explaining its national experience in the country.
It said the company has a database of over 600 districts and 700,000 villages. But it did not identify the source of the database or whether it was collected from any social media sites.
“Our micro-level information includes household level demographics, specifically focusing on caste data, linked to online mapping applications.” The SCL India, according to the tweeted document, helped clients to identify and target key groups within the population “to effectively influence their behaviour to realise a desired outcome”.
It explained that SCL provided its clients the research to develop and “disseminate the right messages from the right sources using the right communication channels”.
It said in 2011, SCL India undertook a statewide research campaign to identify voter caste by household.
Polling data
“This booth level polling data formed the basis of further research into swing voter motivation and supporter mobilisation strategies which were presented to individual candidates and tailored to their constituencies.”
During the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, SCL India managed the campaign of a number of Lok Sabha candidates.
In the 2010 Bihar elections, SCL India was asked to provide electoral research and strategy for JD-U of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “SCL undertook a behavioural research programme targeting over 75 per cent of households to assist the client.”