Whistleblower Christopher Wylie who alleges that the campaign for Britain to leave the EU cheated in the referendum in 2016, speaking at a lawyers office to the media in London, Monday, March 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
A day after confirming that Congress was a client of Cambridge Analytica, whistleblower Christopher Wylie on Wednesday revealed more details about the data analytics firm’s role in Indian elections. According to Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica’s parent firm, Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) has a database of seven lakh villages in 600 districts of India which is constantly updated. The data firm, Wylie claimed, has been conducting caste census and campaigning for political parties in India since 2003.
Sharing details of SCL projects in India, Wylie tweeted: “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.”
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
According to Wylie, the SCL, besides doing electoral research, has conducted campaign to counter jihad in several states. In 2007, the SCL was asked to undertake research communication campaign to support a transnational programme for countering the Non-Desired Behaviour of recruitment into and support of violence in Jihadism in Kerala, West Bengal Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, revealed Wylie.
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The SCL carried out caste-based census for a national party in Uttar Pradesh before the 2012 elections, besides conducting a booth level political survey before the 2007 UP elections. He further said that the SCL managed the national campaign of a political party for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and provided electoral research and strategies to Janata Dal (United) for the 2010 Bihar elections.
Earlier on Tuesday, Wylie escalated the row over alleged harvesting of Facebook profiles to influence elections by saying that he believed the Congress party was a client of Cambridge Analytica, and he was aware that the firm, with many employees and offices, had worked extensively in India.
In his testimony to the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee, Wylie, on being asked about Cambridge Analytica’s work in India, said: “I believe their client was Congress. But I know that they have done all kinds of projects. I don’t remember a national project, but I know regionally. I mean India is so big that you know that one state can be, you know, as big as Britain. But they do have offices there, they do have staff there. I believe I have some documentation on India, which I can also provide to the committee if that’s something of interest.”