USA TODAY International Edition
Behind Cambridge Analytica: Data projects span the globe
Firm’s info-gathering tactics under scrutiny
LONDON – Cambridge Analytica, the British firm accused of improperly harvesting Facebook data to help Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency, and its parent company quietly worked behind the scenes in elections and on big data projects for years with clients that spanned the globe.
In its 25 years of existence, the firm or its parent company, Strategic Communication Laboratories Group (SCL), has worked for political and military clients in Afghanistan, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and Somalia and for the U.S. State Department.
The State Department paid SCL nearly $500,000 in 2017 for information on how Islamic State extremist propaganda motivates recruits to commit terrorism, according to public data held by its Global Engagement Center unit.
Cambridge Analytica’s investors have included Trump benefactor Robert Mercer and ex-White House aide Steve Bannon.
Now the firm is under scrutiny for its information-gathering tactics.
Facebook accuses the firm of harvesting private information improperly from 50 million of the social media site’s users to make predictions about their likely voting habits. The breach was troubling enough to draw scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission.
Special counsel Robert Mueller wants Cambridge Analytica to turn over its internal documents as part of his investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Britain’s Parliament is investigating the firm’s involvement in “Brexit.”
On Monday and Tuesday, British broadcaster Channel 4 aired a video of Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix saying his firm could entrap politicians in compromising situations, prompting British regulators to seek a warrant to inspect the company’s databases and servers. Cambridge Analytica suspended Nix on Tuesday.
The company denies any wrongdoing in the Facebook case. It said in a statement that it does not use, hold or have access to Facebook data or data from other social media platforms.
What is it, and who owns it?
Cambridge Analytica is the elections division of SCL.
It has more than a dozen branches and offices around the world linked through a complex corporate structure with multiple shareholders.
“When you try to wind SCL back and figure out where it came from and how it got to where it is now, it’s very difficult to do,” said Martin Moore, director of the Center for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King’s College London.
SCL, founded in 1993 by former Saatchi & Saatchi advertising executive Nigel Oakes, has operated at least 18 separate companies in Britain and 12 in the United States, according to corporate filings in Britain and the U.S. compiled by Wendy Siegelman and Ann Marlowe, independent researchers in New York, and verified by USA TODAY. Some of these companies are now dormant or dissolved.
SCL has 17 international offices, in such countries as Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. Cambridge Analytica says it has 107 full-time employees. Most work in its central London headquarters.
Cambridge Analytica first emerged as an offshoot of SCL about five years ago, according to public filings.
The company declined to comment on its corporate structure.
Public records reveal a smattering of shareholders and some of its most prominent clientele.
Cambridge Analytica’s election work has been partly funded by Mercer, the American hedge fund billionaire, according to federal election data published by OpenSecrets.org. Mercer is a major contributor to conservative causes, including Breitbart News.
Bannon was among the shareholders in a U.S.-based affiliate, Cambridge Analytica LLC. Bannon, who divested his stake in April, held shares worth between $1 million and $5 million, according to his White House financial disclosure form. He was also a vice president there from 2014 to 2016 and received a consulting fee until 2016.
Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn disclosed in August that he held a brief advisory role with Cambridge Analytica. Flynn has pleaded guilty to a felony count of lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russia’s ambassador.
What work has it done?
The Trump campaign paid $6 million in 2016 to Cambridge Analytica to conduct large-scale polling and place hyper-targeted messages and online ads in front of U.S. voters in key swing states, Federal Election Commission records show.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign paid Cambridge Analytica nearly $6 million for work before the company went to work for Trump, the records show.
In most instances, SCL and Cambridge Analytica won’t divulge who pays for its work. But case studies published on its website show the scope and complexity of SCL projects.
In Afghanistan, SCL undertook “audience profiling” to understand local attitudes toward religious affairs and governance.
In Kenya, Cambridge Analytica took credit for helping re-elect President Uhuru Kenyatta — a vote marred by concerns about its legitimacy.
In Mexico, it used commercial and political data to gauge the effect of U.S. policy on the drug trade and violent crime in 13 cities under the influence of drug cartels.
In Nepal, it gathered data on antisocial behavior among Maoist insurgents.
In Somalia, it assessed the viability of establishing a telephone network across the war-torn country.