The data breach scandal got murkier on Wednesday when a UK-based whistleblower, who exposed alleged data breaches by Cambridge Analytica (CA), named the Janata Dal (United) as a client during the 2010 Bihar elections.
A day ago, in his testimony before UK lawmakers, Christopher Wylie, a former director of Cambridge Analytica, had said that he believed that the company had worked “extensively” in India and that he believed the Congress was one of its clients.
Meanwhile, a fresh evidence has emerged showing a possible link of the Congress with Cambridge Analytica.
In a post on Twitter on Wednesday, Wylie also referred to some caste surveys carried out in UP by SCl India, the parent company of CA.
“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 (see box). The tweet included materials showing that SCl India had a database of “over 600 districts and 7 lakh villages.
Its reach in India is said to include a head office in Ghaziabad, with nine regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune.
“SCl India was asked to provide research and strategy for the 2010 State Elections for the JD(U). SCl undertook a behavioural research programme targeting over 75 per cent of households to assist the client in not only identifying the correct battlegrounds, but also the right audiences, messages and most importantly the right castes to target with their campaigns,” Wylie’s document noted.
Wylie’s document also showed caste census and caste research campaigns carried out in Uttar Pradesh in 2011-2012 on behalf of a “national party”.
“The research included analysis of caste structure and dynamics within the State leading to conclusions regarding the identification of the party’s core voters as well as likely swing voters,” it claims.
Other aspects of the document cover the company’s work across different States including during the 2003 Rajasthan election for a “major state party”; Madhya Pradesh in 2003 for a “national party” to identify swing voters; a full political survey for a “major party” during the 2007 Uttar Pradesh elections; and managing the campaigns of a number of lok Sabha candidates for the 2009 national elections.
Meanwhile, a fresh evidence has emerged showing a possible link of the Congress with Cambridge Analytica, the company which allegedly stole Facebook data to influence elections.
According to media reports, a documentary released last year by journalist Jamie Bartlett showed the “hand” symbol of the Congress adoring poster on the wall when Bartlett met Cambridge Analytica’s former CEO Alexander Nix in his london office.