Cambridge Analytica is reportedly in talks with both the Congress and the BJP for a possible collaboration for their 2019 Lok Sabha election campaigns.
Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm accused of gaining inappropriate access to 50 million Facebook users' data for 2016 US elections, is reportedly in talks with both the Congress and the BJP for a possible collaboration for their 2019 Lok Sabha election campaigns.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Cambridge Analytica and its India partner, Oveleno Business Intelligence (OBI) Private Limited have spoken to both leading political parties of India.
The talks with the two parties is part if the firm's outreach in South Asia where elections in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are due in the next few years.
According to the report, the firm has held talks with the Congress and the BJP, with former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and with Bangladesh's ruling party Awami League.
While Rajapaksa is making a bid to get re-elected in 2020, Sheikh Hasina's Awami League is planning to retain power in 2019.
“Nothing is confirmed yet. These are all preliminary talks,” the report quoted a source as saying.
Facebook on Friday said that conservative-leaning Cambridge Analytica, a data company known for its work on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, was given access to the data and may not have deleted it. The Facebook's statement came hours before media reports exposed how the firm acquired Facebook data and used it to target US electorates.
Two key people behind Cambridge Analytica, a US-incorporated company of London-based SCL Group, were Trump's former aide Steve Bannon and conservative billionaire Robert Mercer.
Facebook said in a statement that a Cambridge University psychology professor had lied to the company and violated its policies by passing data to Cambridge Analytica from an app he had developed. It suspended the firm from Facebook.
The social media giant, in a new statement on Sunday, said it was conducting a "comprehensive internal and external review" to determine if the user data in question still existed.
Cambridge Analytica and the professor have denied violating Facebook's terms, according to media reports.
OBI CEO Amrish Tyagi said the recent allegations against CA will not deter it and its India partner from continuing their collaboration till the firm is found to “violate Indian law.”
“We are in touch with Cambridge Analytica on the controversy. Their officials have denied the allegations and are exploring legal options. Nothing has been established yet,” Tyagi said.
“We are partners. If something is established to be in violation of Indian law, then we will of course reconsider it,” he said.
Tyagi, who is the son of the senior JD(U) leader and former Rajya Sabha MP KC Tyagi, had worked for the JD(U)-BJP alliance in Bihar's 2010 elections and then for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in 2012.
When asked if they had worked with Facebook data of users, he said, “Not at all. Cambridge does not have any project here. There is no question of having done social media work.”
(With Reuters inputs)
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