BJP seeks Rahul's apology after Zuckerberg accepts data theft

The BJP on Wednesday sought an apology from Congress President Rahul Gandhi and asked him to ensure not to "manipulate" voters and "divide" the society in view of allegations of data theft by political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica (CA).

"Now that Cambridge Analytica's role in manipulating elections is clear and Facebook has assured to stop it and maintain integrity of India's elections, probity demands that Rahul Gandhi should apologise and promise not to manipulate voters and divide the society in future!," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a tweet.

His remarks come after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, appearing before US Congress on Tuesday accepted that CA "improperly" accessed information and vowed to ensure that no one would interfere in various elections across the globe scheduled in 2018.

A video had earlier emerged showing Congress party poster in the office of CA's suspended CEO, Alexander Nix. It was part of a documentary series for the BBC released in 2017.

Whistle-blower Christopher Wylie in a testimony to British lawmakers had revealed that CA worked extensively in India and said that he "believes" Congress was the company's client.

On Tuesday, Zuckerberg accepted that the company did not do enough to prevent the platform from being used to harm others.

"That goes for fake news, for interference in elections and we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake and it was my mistake and I'm sorry," the Facebook CEO noted.

What we know now is that Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed information by buying it. When we first contacted Cambridge Analytica, they told us they had deleted the data," Zuckerberg cleared.

During the five-hour marathon session at the US Congress, Zuckerberg said the most important thing he would care about right now was to make sure no more interferes were made in upcoming elections.