Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower Christopher Wylie Breaks Silence, Says Congress in India May Have Been a Client
Wylie, who is the whistleblower and a former employee of Cambridge Analytica informed that the Cambridge Analytica has offices in India and employed staff.
New Delhi, March 27: In a big twist in the Cambridge Analytica (CA) data breach scandal, the whistleblower - Christopher Wylie on Tuesday told the British lawmakers that his company worked extensively in India and that Congress may have been a client at the regional level.
Wylie broke his silence over the ongoing scandal and said, "I believe their client was Congress, but I know that they have done all kinds of project. I don't remember a national project, but I know regionally. India's so big that one state can be as big as Britain," Wylie reportedly told the digital, culture, media and sports committee in the House of Commons.
Wylie, who is the whistleblower and a former employee of Cambridge Analytica informed that the Cambridge Analytica has offices in India and employed staff. "I believe I have some documentation on India which I can also provide to the committee if that's something of interest," he said.
Much to the embarrassment for the Congress party, this comes as a big blow as the party had earlier vehemently denied any connections with the firm. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had confidently stated that neither Congress party nor Rahul Gandhi "had never bought or hired services of the company called Cambridge Analytica." Surjewala had said that allegations by BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad about the possible links between Congress and the contentious firm were "false propaganda" and a "white lie".
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Today the whistleblower Christopher Wylie has confirmed that Cambridge Analytics worked with Congress. This has exposed Rahul Gandhi who was denying all along. Congress and Rahul Gandhi must now apologize”. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had alleged that the Congress had engaged with Cambridge Analytica to run party president's Rahul Gandhi's election campaign.
To recall, Wylie previously alleged that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica used data harvested from more than 50 million Facebook users to help US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign. It must be noted that Wylie worked on Cambridge Analytica's "information operations" in 2014 and 2015.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2018 08:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).