Cambridge Analytica : Susashan Babu’s Party was also a client
NEW DELHI : Cambridge Analytica, the company accused of massive data breach, worked for multiple parties in India and also provided caste analysis for “national parties” and the Janata Dal (U).
The explosive details were tweeted by Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who exposed the scandal involving the misuse of Facebook users’ data to manipulate elections. Yesterday Wylie, a former employee of the company, told British lawmakers that the Congress was a client of Cambridge Analytica.Christopher Wylie tweeted:
“I’ve been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists, so here are some of SCL’s (formerly Strategic Communication Laboratories, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica) 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.”The document he has posted reveals that since 2003, the analytics firm accused of illegally accessing data of Facebook users worked for several parties. The Janata Dal United is the only party that is named.
2012 Uttar Pradesh: The document says in 2012, SCL carried out a caste census in Uttar Pradesh 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 says.
In 2011, the company worked on identifying voter caste by household. 2009 National election: The company managed the campaigns of “a number of Lok Sabha candidates”, says the document.2010 Bihar Election: “SCL India was asked to provide electoral research and strategy for the 2010 state elections for the Janata Dal (United)”.
It says the firm helped the client in identifying “the right audiences, messages and most importantly the right castes to target with their campaigns.”2007 Uttar Pradesh: The company carried out a “full political survey on behalf of a major party”.
2007 Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, UP: SCL was asked to take up a campaign that “focused on ancillary populations as opposed to perpetrators of violent jihadism themselves and required in-depth motivational understanding of the population of six states.”
2003 Madhya Pradesh election: The document says the company worked for a national party to identify swing voters. It analysed “behavioural dynamics in key seats so the party could appeal to the caste make-up and attitudinal positions of the swing population”.
2003 Rajasthan election: “A major state party contracted SCL India to carry out two major pieces of work, one internal and aimed at assessing the party’s organizational strength and the other external and looking at the nature of the voting population and the attitudes and behaviors of politically-active individuals within the state.
“Yesterday, Wylie, 28, told a British parliamentary committee: “They (Cambridge Analytica) worked extensively in India. They have an office in India. I believe their client was Congress. But I know that they have done all kind of projects. I don’t remember any national project, but regionally… India is so big that one state can be the size of Britain.” NDTV.
