Cambridge Analytica snooped on Keralites too

It turns out that Cambridge Analytica (CA), the British political consulting firm which has been accused of gathering 50 million Facebook users in the US to influence the 2016 Presidential election and over which the BJP and the Congress are engaged in a spat, had worked extensively in India and snooped on Keralites as well.

Christopher Wylie, the Camebridge Analytica whistle-blower, said in a Twitter post on Wednesday that SCL India, the Indian arm of the British behavioural research and strategic communication company, had undertaken a research and communication campaign in Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in 2007 ‘to support a trans-national programme for countering the Non-Designated Jihadism.

“The project focused on ancillary populations as opposed to perpetrators of violent Jihadism themselves and required in-depth motivational understanding of the populations of six states,” he said.

SCL/CA works in India, has offices

“I have 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,” he said in his Twitter post, which also goes on to list the various instances of SCL/CA operations in India. SCL India, he said, has a database of over 600 districts and 7 lakh villages, which is constantly being updated.

“Our micro-level information includes household level demographics, specifically focusing on caste data, linked to online mapping applications. Our services help clients to identify and target key groups within the population to effectively influence their behaviour to realise a desired outcome. We provide our clients with the research to develop and disseminate the right messages, from the right sources, using the right communication channels,” he said.