Jump to content

Cambridge Analytica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cambridge Analytica Ltd.
Company typeSubsidiary
Founded2013; 11 years ago (2013)
Founder
DefunctMay 1, 2018; 6 years ago (May 1, 2018)
SuccessorEmerdata
HeadquartersLondon, England
Key people
Alexander Nix (CEO)[1]
Julian Wheatland (CEO)[2]
Robert Mercer (investor)[3]
Rebekah Mercer (investor)
Steve Bannon (vice president, former)[4]
ParentSCL Group[5]

Cambridge Analytica Ltd. (CA), previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal.[6] It was started in 2013,[7] as a subsidiary of the private intelligence company and self-described "global election management agency" SCL Group by long-time SCL executives Nigel Oakes, Alexander Nix and Alexander Oakes, with Nix as CEO.[7] The well-connected founders had contact with[clarification needed], among others, the British Conservative Party, royal family, and military.[8] The firm maintained offices in London, New York City, and Washington, D.C.[9] The company closed operations in 2018 in the course of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, although firms related to both Cambridge Analytica[10] and its parent firm SCL still exist.[11]

History

[edit]

Cambridge Analytica was established as a subsidiary of the private intelligence company SCL Group that was active in military and political arenas. The men who ran Cambridge Analytica and its parent SCL were described as having close ties to the Conservative Party, royalty, and the British military.[8] Cambridge Analytica (SCL USA) was incorporated in January 2013 with its registered office in Westferry Circus, London and just one staff member, its director and CEO Alexander James Ashburner Nix (also appointed in January 2015).[12] Nix was also the director of nine similar companies sharing the same registered offices in London, including Firecrest technologies, Emerdata and six SCL Group companies including "SCL elections limited".[13] Nigel Oakes, known as the former boyfriend of Lady Helen Windsor, had founded the predecessor SCL Group in the 1990s, and in 2005 Oakes established SCL Group together with his brother Alexander Oakes and Alexander Nix; SCL Group was the parent company of Cambridge Analytica.[14] former Conservative minister and MP Sir Geoffrey Pattie was the founding chairman of SCL; Lord Ivar Mountbatten also joined Oakes as a director of the company.[8] As a result of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Nix was removed as CEO and replaced by Julian Wheatland before the company closed.[15] Several of the company's executives were Old Etonians.[16]

The company's owners included several of the Conservative Party's largest donors such as billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz, former British Conservative minister Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland[17] and the family of American hedge fund manager Robert Mercer.[18][19] The company combined misappropriation of digital assets, data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication during electoral processes.[20][21] While its parent SCL had focused on influencing elections in developing countries since the 1990s, Cambridge Analytica focused more on the western world, including the United Kingdom and the United States; CEO Alexander Nix has said CA was involved in 44 U.S. political races in 2014.[22] In 2015, CA performed data analysis services for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign.[19] In 2016, CA worked for Donald Trump's presidential campaign[23] as well as for Leave.EU (one of the organisations campaigning in the United Kingdom's referendum on European Union membership). CA's role in those campaigns has been controversial and is the subject of ongoing inquiries in both countries.[24][25][26] Political scientists question CA's claims about the effectiveness of its methods of targeting voters.[27][28]

Data scandal

[edit]

In March 2018, media outlets broke news of Cambridge Analytica's business practices. The New York Times and The Observer reported that the company had acquired and used personal data about Facebook users from an external researcher who had told Facebook he was collecting it for academic purposes.[29] Shortly afterwards, Channel 4 News aired undercover investigative videos showing Nix boasting about using prostitutes, bribery sting operations, and honey traps to discredit politicians on whom it had conducted opposition research, and saying that the company "ran all of (Donald Trump's) digital campaign". In response to the media reports, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of the UK pursued a warrant to search the company's servers.[30][31] Facebook banned Cambridge Analytica from advertising on its platform, saying that it had been deceived.[32][33] On 23 March 2018, the British High Court granted the ICO a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica's London offices.[34] As a result, Nix was suspended as CEO, and replaced by Julian Wheatland.[35]

The personal data of up to 87 million[36] Facebook users were acquired via the 270,000 Facebook users who used a Facebook app created by Alexsandr Kogan called "This Is Your Digital Life". This was a personality profiling app and asked simple personality questions similar to other Facebook quizzes. Kogan was a scientist and Psychologist, also being an employed lecturer for the University of Cambridge from 2012 to 2018. Alexander Nix claimed they had close to 5 thousand data points on each person who participated. They also gathered information through other data brokers ending with them acquiring millions of data points from American citizens.[37] By giving this third-party app permission to acquire their data, back in 2015, this also gave the app access to information on the user's friends network; this resulted in the data of about 87 million users, the majority of whom had not explicitly given Cambridge Analytica permission to access their data, being collected. The app developer breached Facebook's terms of service by giving the data to Cambridge Analytica.[38]

On 1 May 2018, Cambridge Analytica and its parent company SCL filed for insolvency proceedings and closed operations.[39][40] Alexander Tayler, a former director for Cambridge Analytica, was appointed director of Emerdata on 28 March 2018.[41] Rebekah Mercer, Jennifer Mercer, Alexander Nix and Johnson Chun Shun Ko [zh], who has links to American businessman Erik Prince, are in leadership positions at Emerdata.[42][43] The Russo brothers are producing an upcoming film on Cambridge Analytica.[44][45][18] In 2019 the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint against Cambridge Analytica for misuse of data.[46] In 2020, the British Information Commissioner's Office closed a three-year inquiry into the company, concluded that Cambridge Analytica was "not involved" in the 2016 Brexit referendum and found no additional evidence for Russia's alleged interference during the campaign.[47] US sensitive polling and election data, however, were passed to Russian Intelligence via a Cambridge Analytica contractor Sam Patten and Konstantin Kilimnik, who was indicted during the affair.[48]

Publicly, parent company SCL Group called itself a "global election management agency",[49] Politico reported it was known for involvement "in military disinformation campaigns to social media branding and voter targeting".[19] SCL gained work on a large number of campaigns for the US and UK governments' War on Terror advancing their model of behavioral conflict during the 2000s.[50] SCL's involvement in the political world has been primarily in the developing world where it has been used by the military and politicians to study and manipulate public opinion and political will. Slate writer Sharon Weinberger compared one of SCL's hypothetical test scenarios to fomenting a coup.[19]

Among the investors in Cambridge Analytica were some of the Conservative Party's largest donors such as billionaire Vincent Tchenguiz, former Conservative minister Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland, Roger Gabb,[51] the family of American hedge fund manager Robert Mercer,[17] and Steve Bannon.[52] A minimum of 15 million dollars has been invested into the company by Mercer, according to The New York Times.[53] Bannon's stake in the company was estimated at 1 to 5 million dollars, but he divested his holdings in April 2017 as required by his role as White House Chief Strategist.[54] In March 2018, Jennifer Mercer and Rebekah Mercer became directors of Emerdata limited.[55] In March 2018 it became public by Christopher Wylie, that Cambridge Analytica's first activities were founded on a data set, which its parent company SCL bought 2014 from a company named Global Science Research founded by Aleksandr Kogan and his team present across the world [56] who worked as a psychologist at Cambridge. During Boris Johnson's tenure as foreign secretary, the Foreign Office sought advice from Cambridge Analytica[57] and Boris Johnson had a meeting with Alexander Nix in 2016.[57][58]

Dr Emma Briant, an academic at University of Essex had researched the firm and the parent company SCL interviewing employees as part of her research on political propaganda and her 2015 book 'Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism.'[50] During the revelations she published evidence through the British Parliament's Fake News Inquiry indicating that Cambridge Analytica did work for the UK's LeaveEU Brexit campaign during the 2016 EU Referendum which they denied.[59][60] The Information Commissioner's Office decided in February 2019 to audit the campaign, and its funder Arron Banks company Eldon Insurance for unlawful marketing involving repurposing of data.[61] In November 2020, the Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham wrote that she "found no further evidence to change [her] earlier view that SCL/CA were not involved in the EU referendum campaign in the UK." She also said she found no evidence of Russian involvement in the referendum.[62]

Aftermath

[edit]

Following the downfall of Cambridge Analytica, a number of companies have been established by executives who had also been involved with Cambridge Analytica.[63][64] In July 2018, several former Cambridge Analytica staff launched Auspex International, a company intended to influence politics and society in Africa and the Middle East; another company called Emerdata also had substantial overlap with Cambridge Analytica.[65][66][67][68][69][70] According to the Associated Press, Data Propria, a data analysis firm launched May 2018, is run by former officials at Cambridge Analytica.[71][72][73]

A firm called Emic, set up by staff from the original SCL defence contractor were revealed in 2020 by Emma Briant to be continuing to work for governments.[11]

In December 2022, Facebook's owner Meta Platforms agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company improperly shared users' information with Cambridge Analytica.[74]

Methods

[edit]

CA's data analysis methods were based on those originally patented by Facebook.[75] While Facebook did not publicly disclose the accuracy of this method, it was studied by Michal Kosinski. In 2008, Kosinski joined the Psychometrics Centre of Cambridge University where he then developed with his colleagues a profiling system using general online data, Facebook likes, and smartphone data.[76][77] He showed that with a limited number of "likes", people can be analysed better than friends or relatives can do and that individual psychological targeting is a powerful tool to influence people.[76] Psychological targeting describes the practice of extracting people's psychological profiles from their digital footprints (e.g., their Facebook Likes, Tweets or credit card records) in order to influence their attitudes, emotions or behaviors through psychologically informed interventions at scale.[78] It is defined by two interrelated components: (1) psychological profiling refers to the automated assessment of psychological traits and states from digital footprints, and (2) psychologically informed interventions describe the attempt to influence people's attitudes, emotions or behaviors by speaking to their fundamental psychological motivations.[79] Research in fields such as psychology, marketing and health communication has shown that interventions aimed at influencing and changing human behavior are most effective when they are tailored to individuals’ psychological states and traits.[80]

A large amount of data can be extracted from the record of the trace of almost every step we take online — a digital footprint of human behavior.[80] Whether it is our Facebook profile, Tweets, Google searches or GPS sensor, our digital footprints create extensive records of our personal habits and preferences.[80] CA would collect data on voters using sources such as demographics, consumer behaviour, Internet activity, and other public and private sources. According to The Guardian, CA used psychological data derived from millions of Facebook users, largely without users' permission or knowledge.[81] Another source of information was the "Cruz Crew" mobile app that tracked physical movements and contacts and according to the Associated Press, invaded personal data more than previous presidential campaign apps.[82]

Today in the United States we have somewhere close to four or five thousand data points on every individual ... So we model the personality of every adult across the United States, some 230 million people.

— Alexander Nix, chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, October 2016.[1]
Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix speaking in November 2017.

The company claimed to use "data enhancement and audience segmentation techniques" providing "psychographic analysis" for a "deeper knowledge of the target audience". The company used the Big Five model of personality.[22][9] Using what it called "behavioral microtargeting" the company indicated that it could predict "needs" of subjects and how these needs may change over time. Services then could be individually targeted for the benefit of its clients from the political arena, governments and companies, providing "a better and more actionable view of their key audiences." According to Sasha Issenberg, CA indicated that it could tell things about an individual he might not even know about himself.[18][83]

CA derived much of its personality data on online surveys which it conducted on an ongoing basis. For each political client, the firm would narrow voter segments from 32 different personality styles it attributed to every adult in the United States. The personality data would inform the tone of the language used in ad messages or voter contact scripts, while additional data was used to determine voters' stances on particular issues.[84]

The data would get updated with monthly surveys, asking about political preferences and how people get the information they use to make decisions. It also covered consumer topics about different brands and preferred products, building up an image of how someone shops as much as how they vote.[85]

Channel 4 News investigation

[edit]

Channel 4 News, a news programme broadcast by the British public service Channel 4, conducted a four-month investigation into Cambridge Analytica starting in November 2017. An undercover reporter posed as a potential customer for Cambridge Analytica, hoping to help Sri Lankan candidates get elected. Video footage from this operation was published on 19 March 2018.[86] From the footage, Cambridge Analytica executives say they worked on over 200 elections across the world.[87] Alexander Nix was recorded in this investigation, talking "unguardedly about the company's practices".[88] Nix said that his company uses honey traps, bribery stings, and prostitutes, for opposition research.[89] For example, Nix offered to discredit political opponents in Sri Lanka with suggestive videos using "beautiful Ukrainian girls" and offers of bribes, even if the opponents did not accept the offers.[90] He also said he uses "Israeli companies" to entrap political opponents with bribes and sex, the Wall Street Journal confirmed that it was referring to Psy-Group.[91][92] Zamel signed a memorandum of understanding for Psy-Group with Cambridge Analytica on 14 December 2016.[92][93][91]

Cambridge Analytica said that the video footage was "edited and scripted to grossly misrepresent" the recorded conversations and company's business practices. Nix said that he had "entertained a series of ludicrous hypothetical scenarios", but insisted his company does not engage in entrapment or bribery.[94]

In the third part of the series, Nix also said that Cambridge Analytica "ran all the digital campaign" for Trump. Nix stated they used communications that would be self-destructive, leaving no incriminating evidence. After the news segment was broadcast, the board of Cambridge Analytica suspended Nix as chief executive officer, and Julian Wheatland became the new CEO.[95][2] The company also released a statement that the allegations did not represent the ethics of the company, and an independent entity would investigate Nix's statements.[96]

The investigation also raised questions regarding campaign finance law. During the 2016 election, the company was employed both by Trump's campaign and Robert Mercer's Make America Number 1 Super PAC which supported Trump. While PACs are not limited in the amount of funds they can spend on behalf of a candidate, they are not allowed to coordinate strategy with the campaigns they are supporting. Nix's statements in the recorded video describe how the Trump campaign itself could "take the high road" and "stay clean", while the negative attacks were handled by the firm and the Super PAC, in a way which makes it "unattributable, untrackable". These statements potentially suggested unlawful coordination between Trump's campaign and the PAC, although Cambridge Analytica has denied this.[97]

Assessment of impact

[edit]
Canadian whistleblower Christopher Wylie who was the former director of research at Cambridge Analytica

Some political scientists have been skeptical of claims made by Cambridge Analytica about the effectiveness of its microtargeting of voters.[27][98] They believe that access to digital data doesn't provide significantly more information than from public voter databases, and the digital data has limited value over time as the preferences of voters change.[27] While studies have shown that personality does impact political preferences,[99][100][101] some political scientists still believe that it is hard to infer political values from personality traits.[27] On the other hand, a paper by Stanford professor Michal Kosinski and colleagues confirms that it can have a significant impact with a sample base of 3.5 million users[102]

Research discussed by Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College showed that it is extremely hard to alter voters' choice of candidate because many likely voters are already committed partisans; rather, it is easier to mobilize partisan voters.[27][103] This is consistent with Wylie's claims, that effort was spent both encouraging voters who did not usually vote but were identified as likely supporters of CA's various employers, and also, to suppress voters among those likely to vote for opponents. Tufts University political scientist Eitan Hersh, who has published on microtargeting in campaigns, has expressed strong skepticism about Cambridge Analytica's methods and their purported effectiveness, saying, "Every claim about psychographics etc made by or about [Cambridge Analytica] is BS."[104]

In 2017, CA claimed that it has psychological profiles of 220 million US citizens based on 5,000 separate data sets.[105] In March 2017, The New York Times reported that CA had exaggerated its capabilities: "Cambridge executives now concede that the company never used psychographics in the Trump campaign."[24] Trump aides have also disputed CA's role in the campaign, describing it as "modest" and noting that none of the company's efforts involved psychographics.[24]

According to an aide and consultant for Ted Cruz's presidential campaign, their campaign stopped using CA after its psychographic models failed to identify likely Cruz supporters. The Cruz campaign ceased access to all of Cambridge's data after the South Carolina Republican primary on 20 February 2016 when Cruz came in third after Trump and Rubio.[24][106]

Privacy issues and investigations

[edit]

The use of personal data collected without knowledge or permission to establish sophisticated models of users' personalities raises ethical and privacy issues.[81] CA operated out of the United States; its operations would be illegal in Europe with its stricter privacy laws.[82] While Cruz was outspoken about protecting personal information from the government, his database of CA has been described as "political-voter surveillance".[82]

Regarding CA's use of Facebook users, a speaker for CA indicated that these users gave permission when signing up with the provider, while Facebook declared that "misleading people or misusing information" is in violation of Facebook's policies.[81] In 2015, Facebook indicated that it was investigating the matter.[81] In March 2018, Facebook announced that it had suspended the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories for failing to delete data on Facebook users that had been improperly collected.[107]

Alexander Nix suggested that data collection and microtargeting benefits the voters – because they receive messages about issues they care about. However, digital rights protection groups raised concerns that private information is collected, stored, and shared while individuals are "left in the dark about [it]" and have no control.[108]

Significant backlash against Facebook came to light in March 2018, resulting in controversy as well as a $37 billion (~$44.2 billion in 2023) drop in the market capitalization of Facebook, as of 20 March.[109] Due to the scandal of enabling monetization of Facebook personal data, one assessment was that only 41% of Facebook users trust the company.[110] On 26 March, the US Federal Trade Commission announced it is "conducting an open investigation of Facebook Inc's privacy practices following the disclosure that 50 million users' data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica."[111] In March 2019 Facebook acknowledged it had concerns about “improper data-gathering practices” by CA, months before the previously reported onset-of-alert at December 2015.[112] In December 2019 the Federal Trade Commission also filed a complaint against Cambridge Analytica for its practices, while filing settlements with CEO Alexander Nix and app developer Aleksandr Kogan.[46]

In 2020 the BBC reported that the group Facebook You Owe Us had filed a lawsuit against Facebook for failing to protect users' personal data in the Cambridge Analytica breach, involving the misuse of information from almost one million users in England and Wales.[113]

Elections

[edit]

Australia

[edit]

In Australia, Cambridge Analytica set up an office. Allan Lorraine, a friend of Alexander Tayler who was a former director for Cambridge Analytica and later appointed director of Emerdata, set up SCL (the parent company of Cambridge Analytica) in Australia. Representatives of Cambridge Analytica had a private dinner with Dan Tehan when he was then the minister responsible for cyber security, and Liberal Party executives.[114] The business name "Cambridge Analytica" was registered in Australia to the Lorraine Family Trust in June 2015. SCL Group, promoted Mr Lorraine online as its head of Australian operations.[115] Alexander Nix spoke at an Australian data-driven advertising conference run by the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising and met with Liberal Party officials.[116][117] Cambridge Analytica was scoping both political as well as commercial work in Australia.[116] Cambridge Analytica's managing director of political operations said in a video recorded by Channel 4 that "We've done it in Mexico, we've done it in Malaysia, we're now moving into Brazil, Australia, China."[118]

More than 310,000 Australian Facebook users were among the millions globally who may have had their information improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, to be sold and used for political profiling.[119][120][121]

India

[edit]

Cambridge Analytica functioned in India through a company called Strategic Communication Laboratories Private Limited, a venture of its parent company based in London, the SCL Group, and Ovleno India.[122][123] Christopher Wylie, the CA whistleblower, tweeted documents that suggested that SCL India had been involved in at least six state elections in 2003–2012, including the 2010 state elections in Bihar, as well as the 2009 national election.[124] He also suggested that CA's role in Indian elections was neocolonial in nature.[125] Both leading national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC) denied contracting SCL India for any elections, and each accused the other party of having hired the firm.[124][126][127] An INC spokesperson admitted that it was possible that party leaders might have merely met with the firm—yet, the SCL website listed their 2009 Bihar election campaign in its display of past projects.[124] A clip from a BBC documentary showing a poster of the INC in ex-CEO Alexander Nix's office went viral in India.[128] However, some CA executives, including Nix, claimed that their business venture in India was unsuccessful and that they falsified claims about their projects to win other business contracts.[124] Further, one of the co-founders of the Indian CA counterpart, Avneesh Rai, claimed that Wylie's documents were some of the corporate advertising created by Nix and others that displayed the independent work of Rai and others as CA projects.[129][130] Rai further claimed that several of Wylie's claims were false, and alleged that his partners and contractors held an anti-INC party ideological bent.[130][131] In early 2018, CA pitched a 50-page proposal potentially costing INR 25 million for the INC campaign in the upcoming 2019 general election in India and "crucial" state elections, but the INC maintained that no transaction was made.[132]

India was in the list of ten most-affected countries in the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data leak. 335 Indian Facebook users installed a CA associated app, exposing the data of their friend networks—in total leaking the data of 562,455 users.[133] After the data leak allegations became public, the Indian government took down the local website of SCL India and began formal investigations.[127]

Kenya

[edit]

CA ran campaigns in secret during Kenya's 2013 and 2017 elections.[134][135] In 2018, a CA employee said that his predecessor at the company had been found dead in his hotel room in Kenya while working on Uhuru Kenyatta's 2013 campaign.[136] The company claimed on its website to have conducted a survey of 47,000 Kenyans during the 2013 elections in order to understand "key national and local political issues, levels of trust in key politicians, voting behaviours/intentions, and preferred information channels". According to verified sources, CA worked with 360 Media, a company formed by Simon Gicharu (founder of Mount Kenya University) and Tom Mshindi (Editor-in-Chief of Nation Media Group). 360 Media developed online campaigns in the 2017 Kenyan elections portraying "Raila Odinga as a blood-thirsty individual who is also sympathetic to Al-Shabaab and having no development agenda," whilst portraying the incumbent President Kenyatta as "tough on terrorism, and being good for the economy."[137]

After the revelations in March 2018, where CA staff boasted of their power in Kenya, opposition figures called for an investigation. Norman Magaya, an official of the National Super Alliance, accused CA and the ruling Jubilee Party of committing a crime and called for an investigation.[138] The Jubilee Party downplayed CA's role, saying it had hired the firm's parent company, to assist with branding.[139]

Malta

[edit]

In its Disinformation and 'fake news' inquiry, published on 29 July 2018, the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee noted that it is believed that CA, or its associated companies, worked with the Labour Party in Malta, on the 2013 Maltese general election campaign.[140] Several sources claim that CA had close relationships with Henley & Partners who would immediately after the election introduce and run a lucrative Citizenship by Investment Program in Malta.[141][142] The Maltese Government issued a press release denying the claims and calling the report and its sources "fake news".[143] Henley & Partners denied any wrongdoing. According to Henley & Partners, there was never a formal working relationship with CA.[144]

The Final Report by the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, published on 18 February 2019, took note of the Maltese Government's submissions (including through PR agency Chelgate's services) but determined that compelling evidence shown to the Committee confirmed that "SCL certainly had meetings in Malta, that Christian Kalin of Henley & Partners was introduced by SCL to Joseph Muscat in 2011, and that Christian Kalin met with both political parties before 2013".[145]

The Maltese Government later issued a further denial decrying the use of "unnamed sources" and "confidential documents".[146]

Mexico

[edit]

After the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Forbes published that the British news program Channel 4 News had mentioned the existence of proof revealing ties between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Cambridge Analytica, suggesting a modus operandi similar to the one in the United States. According to Channel 4 News' Guillermo Galdos, CA worked for the PRI at least until January 2018.[147][148][149] An investigation was requested.[150]

In 2017 the company had reached out to the PRI, Mexico's ruling political party, in order to bolster the party's presidential campaign during the largest-ever political elections of 2018. The party decided that it was sufficiently equipped to mess with the election on its own, but still paid Cambridge Analytica to prevent it from working with rival parties.[151]

United Kingdom

[edit]
A protest following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, 29 March 2018

Many donors to the UK Conservative Party reportedly have connections to the parent company of Cambridge Analytica.[152]

CA became involved in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum (Brexit) supporting "persuadable" voters to vote for leaving the European Union (EU).[153] Articles by Carole Cadwalladr in The Observer and Guardian newspapers, respectively published in February and May 2017, speculated in detail that CA had influenced both the Brexit/Vote Leave option in the UK's 2016 EU membership referendum and Trump's 2016 US presidential campaign with Robert Mercer's backing of Donald Trump being key. They also discuss the legality of using the social data farmed.[154][155][156] CA is pursuing legal action over the claims made in Cadwalladr's articles.[154]

No campaign contributions, in cash or in kind, by Cambridge Analytica were reported to the UK electoral authorities. Both CA and Leave.EU refused to comment on any donation of services.[157] On 23 March 2018, it was reported that a former employee, Brittany Kaiser, who was the company's former director of business development, revealed that the company misled the public and MPs over its links with Leave.EU and the analysis of data which had been provided by the UK Independence Party (UKIP). She said she felt she had lied by supporting Cambridge Analytica's company line that it had done "no paid or unpaid work" for Leave.EU. "In my opinion, I was lying. In my opinion I felt like we should say, 'this is exactly what we did'".[158] The following day, it was reported that the company claimed that it would be able to affect the outcome of the Referendum and that it had produced a 10-page document headed "Big Data Solutions for the EU Referendum", claiming it could single out 'Brexiteers' among voters, donors, politicians and journalists.[159] In a 2019 interview with France 24, Kaiser said that democracy is under threat from the influence of groups like Cambridge Analytica, and that she does not believe social media users are more protected from this than in 2016.[160]

During a committee hearing in March 2018 Christopher Wylie told UK lawmakers that AggregateIQ, a firm linked to Cambridge Analytica, helped the official Vote Leave campaign circumvent campaign financing laws during the Brexit referendum.[161]

United States

[edit]

Laurence Levy, a lawyer with the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, advises Rebekah Mercer, Steve Bannon, and Alexander Nix on the legality of their company, Cambridge Analytica, being involved in Elections in the United States. He advises that Nix and any foreign nationals without a green card working for the company must not be involved in any decision making regarding any work the company performs for any clients related to U.S. elections. He further advises Nix to recuse himself from any involvement with the company's U.S. election work because he is not a U.S. citizen.[162][163]

2014 midterm elections

[edit]

CA had entered the US market in 2012[164] (or 2013),[18] and was involved in 44 US congressional, US Senate and state-level elections in the 2014 US elections.[164]

The company worked with the John Bolton Super PAC (political action committee) on a major digital and TV campaign focused on senate races in Arkansas, North Carolina and New Hampshire and helped turn out voters for the Republican Party candidates in those states. Two of the Republican candidates backed by the Bolton Super PAC, Thom Tillis in North Carolina and Tom Cotton in Arkansas, won their Senate bids, while Scott Brown lost in New Hampshire. The PAC ran 15 different TV advertisements each in North Carolina and Arkansas and 17 in New Hampshire, mostly online with some targeted directly to households using Dish Network and DirecTV. All were intended to push Bolton's national security agenda.[165]

CA also supported Thom Tillis's successful campaign to oust Kay Hagan as a senator for North Carolina. The firm was credited for its role in identifying a sizeable cluster of North Carolinians who prioritised foreign affairs, which encouraged Tillis to shift the conversation from state-level debates over education policy to charges that incumbent Kay Hagan had failed to take ISIS's rise seriously.[166] Tillis's campaign and the North Carolina Republican Party paid Cambridge Analytica $345,000 for these services.[167]

CA sent dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014, opening the firm and individuals to prosecution under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, for being foreign agents having not registered through the United States Department of Justice as such.[168]

2016 presidential election

[edit]

CA's involvement in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries became known in July 2015.[19] As of December 2015, CA claimed to have collected up to 5,000 data points on over 220 million Americans.[9] At that time Robert Mercer was a major supporter of Ted Cruz.[18][169] The Mercer family funded CA directly and indirectly through several super-PACs as well as through payments via Cruz's campaign.[81]

Cruz became an early major client of CA in the 2016 presidential campaign. Just prior to the Iowa Republican caucuses, the Cruz campaign had spent $3 million for CA's services,[170] with additional money coming from allied Super-PACs.[170] After Cruz's win at the Iowa caucus CA was credited with having been able to identify and motivate potential voters.[171][172] Ultimately the Cruz campaign spent $5.8 million on work by CA.[173]

Ben Carson was a second client of CA; his campaign had paid $220,000 for "data management" and "web service" as reported in October 2015.[22] Marco Rubio's campaign was supported by Optimus Consulting.[174] Meanwhile, the third competitor, Governor John Kasich, was supported by rivalling firm Applecart.[175]

After Cruz dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination in May 2016, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer started to support Trump.[176] In August, it became known that CA followed their allegiance and worked for Trump's presidential campaign.[173][176] Trump's campaign also worked with digital firm Giles Parscale.[173] In September, the Trump campaign spent $5 million to purchase television advertising.[177] The Trump campaign spent less than $1 million in data work.[178][failed verification]

In 2016, the company said that it had not used psychographics in the Trump presidential campaign.[179] Cambridge Analytica targeted potential voters with bespoke messages. Cambridge Analytica's data head, Alexander Tayler said, "When you think about the fact that Donald Trump lost the popular vote by 3m votes but won the electoral college vote, [t]hat's down to the data and the research."[180]

The head of Cambridge Analytica said he asked WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, for help finding Hillary Clinton's 33,000 deleted emails.[181][182][183]

On 18 May 2017, Time reported that the US Congress was investigating CA in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The report alleges that CA may have coordinated the spread of Russian propaganda using its microtargeting capabilities.[184] According to the Trump campaign's digital operations chief, CA worked "side-by-side" with representatives from Facebook, Alphabet Inc. and Twitter on Trump's digital campaign activities.[185]

On 4 August 2017, Michael Flynn, who is under investigation by US counterintelligence for his contacts with Russian officials, amended a public financial filing to reflect that he had served in an advisory role in an agreement with CA during the 2016 Trump campaign.[186]

On 8 October 2017, Brad Parscale, who was the digital media director for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, stated in an interview with Lesley Stahl from CBS News on 60 Minutes that Parscale was able to utilize Facebook advertising to directly target individual voters in swing states.[187] Parscale cited the example in which he was able to target specific universes (audiences) who care about infrastructure and promote Trump and his message to build back up the crumbling American infrastructure.[188] Although he hired Cambridge Analytica to assist with microtargeting, and Cambridge Analytica stated that it was the key to Trump's victory, Parscale denied that he gained assistance from the firm, stating that he thought Cambridge Analytica's use of psychographics doesn't work.[189] He also denied any assistance with links to Russia.[189] According to Parscale, the Clinton campaign turned down assistance from these platforms.[189]

On 25 October 2017, Assange said on Twitter that he had been approached by Cambridge Analytica, but that he had rejected its proposal.[190] Assange's tweet followed a story in The Daily Beast[191] alleging that Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix had proposed a collaboration with Wikileaks to find the 33,000 emails that had been deleted from Clinton's private server. CNN said it had been told by several unnamed sources[192] that Nix intended to turn the Clinton email archive released to the public by the State Department into a searchable database for the campaign or a pro-Trump political action committee.

On 14 December 2017, it was revealed that Robert Mueller had requested during the fall of 2017 that Cambridge Analytica turn over the emails of any of its employees who worked on the Trump campaign, as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[193]

In 2018, following disclosures that the company had improperly used the personal information of over 50 million Facebook users while working on Trump's presidential campaign, The Times of Israel reported that the company had used what Nix had called "intelligence gathering" from British and Israeli companies as part of their efforts to influence the election results in Trump's favor.[194]

This was further confirmed when a joint investigation by journalists from TheMarker, Radio France, and Haaretz into an organization that claimed to help swing elections. The business, reportedly run by Israeli businessman Tal Hanan, had connections with Cambridge Analytica and Alexander Nix. Hanan's name and pseudonym, Jorge, were discovered in leaked Cambridge Analytica emails.[195]

Other countries

[edit]

Cambridge Analytica's executives said in 2018 that the company had worked in more than 200 elections around the world, including in India, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia (CA's website stated that it supported Prime Minister Najib Razak's Barisan Nasional coalition),[196] Colombia, Cyprus, Zambia, South Africa, Romania, Italy, Lithuania, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria (Nigeria's 2015 presidential election),[196] the Czech Republic, and Argentina.[87][197] During the investigation it was admitted that the company has been contacted from a famous Italian party to manage the electoral campaign in Italy, but the name of the party was not revealed.

In the Philippines, Cambridge Analytica was also involved in the 2016 presidential election with reports citing it helped Rodrigo Duterte win the race.[198] Duterte's camp denied this association.[199] The SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica's parent company, claimed that it rebranded the politician's image to target voters who they found are swayed by qualities such as toughness and decisiveness.[200] During the election cycle, Facebook confirmed that its data of more one million Filipino users were improperly shared with the communications company.[201]

In 2020, Brittany Kaiser alleged that former Philippine Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr, had approached Cambridge Analytica with a request to do a "rebranding" of the family's image.[202]

On 4 January 2020, a release of more than 100,000 documents showed how Cambridge Analytica worked in 68 countries.[203] A global infrastructure designed to manipulate voters on an "industrial scale.". The release of documents began on New Year's Day from an anonymous Twitter account called @HindsightFiles, that published material on elections in Malaysia, Kenya and Brazil (and next days so more countries). This documents came from Brittany Kaiser, an ex-Cambridge Analytica employee turned whistleblower, and were retrieved from her email accounts and hard drives.[204]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Cheshire, Tom (21 October 2016). "Behind the scenes at Donald Trump's UK digital war room". Sky News. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b Bernal, Natasha (7 August 2019). "The man that killed Cambridge Analytica: 'We made mistakes, but they aren't what you think'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  3. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (18 March 2018). "'I made Steve Bannon's psychological warfare tool': meet the data war whistleblower". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  4. ^ Illing, Sean (16 October 2017). "Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Cambridge Analytica LLC: Private Company Information". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Cerca nel sito www.ilsole24ore.com". www.ricerca24.ilsole24ore.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b Tirino, Nazzareno (2019). Cambridge Analytica. Il potere segreto, la gestione del consenso e la fine della propaganda [Cambridge Analytica. The secret power to manage consensus to the end of propaganda.] (in Italian). Lecce - Italy: Libellula Edizioni. p. 109. ISBN 9788867355129. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Brown, David (21 March 2018). "SCL Group's founders were connected to royalty, the rich and powerful". Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  9. ^ a b c "About Us". Cambridge Analytica. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Cambridge Analytica staff set up new firm". BBC News. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  11. ^ a b Briant, Emma (12 October 2020). "OPINION: Governments Have Failed to Learn from the Cambridge Analytica Scandal". OCCRP. Archived from the original on 29 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Filing record for Cambridge Analytica (UK) Limited – Company number 09375920". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Companies house, UK. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  13. ^ "Alexander James Ashburner NIX – Appointments". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Companies house, UK Government. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  14. ^ "Old Etonian smoothie fails to buff Indonesian leader's image". The Independent. 6 August 2000. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  15. ^ Hagey, Rebecca Ballhaus and Keach (11 April 2018). "Cambridge Analytica CEO Post Goes to Julian Wheatland". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  16. ^ Walters, Guy (23 March 2018). "When Old Etonians go rogue". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  17. ^ a b "Tory donors among investors in Cambridge Analytica parent firm". The Guardian. 21 March 2018. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  18. ^ a b c d e Issenberg, Sasha (12 November 2015). "Cruz-Connected Data Miner Aims to Get Inside U.S. Voters' Heads". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  19. ^ a b c d e Vogel, Kenneth P. (7 July 2015). "Cruz partners with donor's 'psychographic' firm". Politico. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  20. ^ "Factbox: Who is Cambridge Analytica and what did it do?". Reuters. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  21. ^ "Exposed: Undercover secrets of Trump's data firm". Channel 4 News. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  22. ^ a b c Sellers, Frances Stead (19 October 2015). "Cruz campaign paid $750,000 to 'psychographic profiling' company". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  23. ^ Alex Altman (10 October 2016). "Silent Partners". Time. p. 44.
  24. ^ a b c d Confessore, Nicholas; Hakim, Danny (6 March 2017). "Data Firm Says 'Secret Sauce' Aided Trump; Many Scoff". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  25. ^ Reinbold, Fabian; Schnack, Thies (6 December 2016). "Ich ganz allein habe Trump ins Amt gebracht". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  26. ^ Doward, Jamie; Cadwalladr, Carole; Gibbs, Alice (4 March 2017). "Watchdog to launch inquiry into misuse of data in politics". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  27. ^ a b c d e "Cambridge Analytica's Facebook data abuse shouldn't get credit for Trump". The Verge. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  28. ^ Trump, Kris-Stella (23 March 2018). "Analysis | Four and a half reasons not to worry that Cambridge Analytica skewed the 2016 election". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  29. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew; Confessore, Nicholas; Cadwalladr, Carole (17 March 2018). "How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  30. ^ "Cambridge Analytica CEO 'admits to dirty tricks'". The Week. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  31. ^ "Cambridge Analytica Boasted of Disappearing Emails in Campaigns". Bloomberg.com. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  32. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew; Confessore, Nicholas; Cadwalladr, Carole (17 March 2018). "How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  33. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole; Graham-Harrison, Emma (17 March 2018). "Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  34. ^ CNBC (23 March 2018). "UK High Court grants Cambridge Analytica search warrant to ICO". CNBC. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  35. ^ Ballhaus, Rebecca; Hagey, Keach (11 April 2018). "Cambridge Analytica CEO Post Goes to Julian Wheatland". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  36. ^ Kang, Cecilia; Frenkel, Sheera (4 April 2018). ""Facebook Says Cambridge Analytica Harvested Data of Up to 87 Million Users" in The New York Times". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  37. ^ Hern, Alex (10 April 2018). "How to check whether Facebook shared your data with Cambridge Analytica". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  38. ^ "Here's how Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to get data for 50 million users". Recode. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  39. ^ Lumb, David (2 May 2018). "Cambridge Analytica is shutting down following Facebook scandal". Engadget. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  40. ^ "Cambridge Analytica and Scl Elections Commence Insolvency Proceedings and Release Results of Independent Investigation into Recent Allegations". CA Commercial. Cambridge Analytica. 2 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  41. ^ Nichols, Shaun (2 May 2018). "Cambridge Analytica dismantled for good? Nope: It just changed its name to Emerdata". The Register. Archived from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  42. ^ Ghosh, Shona (21 March 2018). "The power players behind Cambridge Analytica have set up a mysterious new data company". Business Insider Australia. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  43. ^ "SCL GROUP LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  44. ^ "Exclusive: Paul Bettany to Co-Star in Cambridge Analytica Drama From 'Avengers' Team". The New York Observer. 13 March 2020. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  45. ^ "The strange afterlife of Cambridge Analytica and the mysterious fate of its data". Fast Company. 26 July 2018. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  46. ^ a b Cambridge Analytica, LLC, In the Matter of Archived 11 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Federal Trade Commission
  47. ^ "Cambridge Analytica 'not involved' in Brexit vote". BBC News. 7 October 2020. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  48. ^ Siegelman, Wendy (20 April 2021). "Did Cambridge Analytica Collude with Russia's Intelligence Services to Interfere in US Elections?". Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  49. ^ "SCL Group – Home". scl.cc. Archived from the original on 8 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  50. ^ a b [Briant, Emma (2015) Propaganda and Counter-terrorism: Strategies for Global Change, Manchester: Manchester University Press.]
  51. ^ Watt, Holly; Osborne, Hilary (21 March 2018). "Tory donors among investors in Cambridge Analytica parent firm". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018 – via www.theguardian.com.
  52. ^ Gayte, Marie; Chelini-Pont, Blandine; Rozell, Mark J. (2021). Catholics and US Politics After the 2020 Elections: Biden Chases the 'Swing Vote'. Springer Nature. p. 49. ISBN 978-3-030-82212-5.
  53. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew (19 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica, Trump-Tied Political Firm, Offered to Entrap Politicians". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  54. ^ Wieder, Ben; Kumar, Anita (20 February 2018). "Bannon sold Cambridge Analytica stake, fined for late ethics report". McClatchy. Archived from the original on 20 February 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  55. ^ "Appointment as directors". Companies house. 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  56. ^ Hannes Grassegger und Mikael Krogerus, in: Tages-Anzeiger: «Ich habe nur gezeigt, dass es die Bombe gibt» (I only showed, that there is a bomb) Archived 16 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine, 3. 20th 2018
  57. ^ a b Philp, Catherine (22 March 2018). "Foreign Office sought advice from Cambridge Analytica chiefs". Archived from the original on 4 March 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2020 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  58. ^ Nelson, Fraser (21 March 2018). "Boris Johnson's undisclosed meeting with Alexander Nix of Cambridge Analytica". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  59. ^ "Committee publishes essays, audio files and accompanying transcripts from University of Essex lecturer Dr Emma Briant". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commons Select Committee. Archived from the original on 17 April 2018.
  60. ^ "Research on Leave.EU and Cambridge Analytica strategy published". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. 16 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  61. ^ "ICO to audit data protection practices at Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance after fining both companies for unlawful marketing messages". ico.org.uk. 20 July 2020. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  62. ^ "UK probe finds no evidence that Cambridge Analytica misused data to influence Brexit". Politico. 7 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  63. ^ Pasternack, Jesse Witt and Alex (26 July 2019). "The strange afterlife of Cambridge Analytica and the mysterious fate of its data". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  64. ^ "Cambridge Analytica staff set up new firm". BBC News. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  65. ^ "Friday briefing: Former Cambridge Analytica chiefs set up 'ethical' data analysis firm". Wired UK. 13 July 2018. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2018 – via www.wired.co.uk.
  66. ^ "Cambridge Analytica staff set up new firm". BBC News. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  67. ^ "Cambridge Analytica's latest wants your Google search history". 13 July 2018. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018.
  68. ^ Jardin, Xeni (11 July 2018). "Cambridge Analytica spawns creepy new spinoff: meet 'Auspex International.'". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  69. ^ Ram, Aliya (5 June 2018). "Cambridge Analytica chief accused of taking $8m before collapse". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  70. ^ Ram, Aliya (11 July 2018). "Ex-Cambridge Analytica staff launch venture using same techniques". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  71. ^ Jeff Horwitz (15 June 2018). "AP: Trump 2020 working with ex-Cambridge Analytica staffers". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via WashingtonPost.com.
  72. ^ Teri Robinson (18 June 2018). "Data Propria, heir to Cambridge Analytica, working for RNC, possibly Trump campaign". scmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  73. ^ "CloudCommerce Launches Data Propria, Inc., Its New Data Analytics Division". Accesswire. 29 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  74. ^ Nate Raymond (23 December 2022). "Facebook parent Meta to settle Cambridge Analytica case for $725 million". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  75. ^ "Determining user personality characteristics from social networking system communications and characteristics". Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  76. ^ a b Mikael Krogerus, Hannes Grassegger (3 December 2016). "Ich habe nur gezeigt, dass es die Bombe gibt" (in German). Das Magazin. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  77. ^ Kosinski, M; Stillwell, D; Graepel, T (2013). "Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital records of human behavior". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (15): 5802–5805. Bibcode:2013PNAS..110.5802K. doi:10.1073/pnas.1218772110. PMC 3625324. PMID 23479631.
  78. ^ Matz, Sandra; Appel, Ruth; Kosinski, Michal (February 2020). "Privacy in the age of psychological targeting". Current Opinion in Psychology. 31: 116–121. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.010. PMID 31563799. S2CID 202255877.
  79. ^ Matz, Sandra; Appel, Ruth; Kosinski, Michal (2020). "Privacy in the age of psychological targeting". Current Opinion in Psychology. 31 (February 2020): 116–121. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.010. PMID 31563799. S2CID 202255877.
  80. ^ a b c Matz, Sandra; Appel, Ruth; Kosinski, Michal (1 February 2020). "Privacy in the age of psychological targeting". Current Opinion in Psychology. 31: 116–121. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.010. PMID 31563799. S2CID 202255877.
  81. ^ a b c d e Davies, H (11 December 2015). "Ted Cruz using firm that harvested data on millions of unwitting Facebook users". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  82. ^ a b c Biesecker, Michael; Bykowicz, Julie (11 February 2016). "Cruz app data collection helps campaign read minds of voters". AP News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  83. ^ "The Persuasion Machine of Silicon Valley". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 February 2018. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  84. ^ "Cruz's Data Company Works into the Night After Big $3 Million Payout". Advertising Age. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  85. ^ "Inside the Tech That Puts Political Ads on Your Screen". DC Inno. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  86. ^ "Revealed: Trump's election consultants filmed saying they use bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians". Channel 4 News. 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  87. ^ a b "Revealed: Cambridge Analytica says it worked for Uhuru". Daily Nation. Kenya. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  88. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole; Graham-Harrison, Emma (17 March 2018). "The Cambridge Analytica Files : 'I made Steve Bannon's psychological warfare tool': meet the data war whistleblower". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  89. ^ "Cambridge Analytica CEO 'admits to dirty tricks'". The Week. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  90. ^ "Cambridge Analytica sends 'girls' to entrap politicians". The Times. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  91. ^ a b Tau, Byron; Ballhaus, Rebecca (23 May 2018). "Israeli Intelligence Company Formed Venture With Trump Campaign Firm Cambridge Analytica". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  92. ^ a b "The Dark Truth About Cambridge Analytica's Ties to Trumpworld". Vanity Fair. 23 May 2018. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  93. ^ Tau, Byron; Ballhaus, Rebecca (23 May 2018). "Israeli Intelligence Company Formed Venture With Trump Campaign Firm Cambridge Analytica". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  94. ^ Pham, Sherisse; Riley, Charles (20 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica responds after CEO filmed discussing bribery and entrapment". CNN. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  95. ^ "Who is the man set to be Cambridge Analytica's new boss?". 14 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  96. ^ Lanxon, Nate (20 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica Boasted of Disappearing Emails in Campaigns". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  97. ^ Bump, Philip (20 March 2018). "A new undercover video raises significant questions about Cambridge Analytica's elections work". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  98. ^ Mayer, Jane (17 March 2017). "The Reclusive Hedge-Fund Tycoon Behind the Trump Presidency". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  99. ^ "Personality predicts political preferences". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on 14 July 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  100. ^ Verhulst, B; Eaves, LJ; Hatemi, PK (2012). "Correlation not causation: the relationship between personality traits and political ideologies". American Journal of Political Science. 56 (1): 34–51. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2011.00568.x. PMC 3809096. PMID 22400142.
  101. ^ "Politics is personal". American Psychological Association. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  102. ^ Isaak, Jim (August 2018). "User Data Privacy: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and Privacy Protection". Computer. 51 (8): 56–59. doi:10.1109/MC.2018.3191268. S2CID 52047339.
  103. ^ Nyhan, Brendan (13 February 2018). "Fake News and Bots May Be Worrisome, but Their Political Power Is Overblown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  104. ^ "Cambridge Analytica Was Doing Marketing, Not Black Magic". Reason. 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  105. ^ Govind Krishnan V. (3 June 2017). "Aadhaar in the hand of spies Big Data, global surveillance state and the identity project". Fountain Ink Magazine. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  106. ^ "Ted Cruz on South Carolina Primary". The New York Times. 20 February 2016. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  107. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth (16 March 2018). "Facebook bans Trump campaign's data analytics firm for taking user data". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2018. Facebook said it was suspending the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, as well as the accounts of a University of Cambridge psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, and Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies, Inc. Cambridge Analytica, a firm specializing in using online data to create voter personality profiles in order to target them with messages, ran data operations for Trump's presidential campaign.
  108. ^ Brannelly, Kate (4 November 2016). "Trump Campaign Pays Millions to Overseas Big Data Firm". NBC News. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  109. ^ "Facebook's value falls $37bn amid backlash". BBC. 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  110. ^ Nelson Granados (26 March 2018). "Transparency: How Facebook Can Recover From The Cambridge Analytica Crisis". Forbes. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  111. ^ "U.S. FTC investigating Facebook's privacy practices". Reuters. 26 March 2018. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018. If the FTC finds Facebook violated terms of the consent decree, it has the power to fine the company thousands of dollars a day per violation, which could add up to billions of dollars. "The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook. Today, the FTC is confirming that it has an open non-public investigation into these practices," Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
  112. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (22 March 2019). "Facebook acknowledges concerns over Cambridge Analytica emerged earlier than reported". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  113. ^ Criddle, Cristina (28 October 2020). "Facebook sued over Cambridge Analytica data scandal". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  114. ^ McGhee, political reporter Ashlynne (21 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica's Australian office is a former used-car salesman's house". ABC News. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  115. ^ Begley, Patrick (21 March 2018). "'Friend of a friend': Australian link to Cambridge Analytica". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  116. ^ a b "Trump's data consultant to meet Aust govt". SBS News. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  117. ^ "Alexander Nix". ADMA. 10 January 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  118. ^ "Australian parties deny using data firm Cambridge Analytica". SBS News. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  119. ^ Clun, Rachel (4 April 2018). "Facebook says 310,000 Australian users may have been affected by Cambridge Analytica scandal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  120. ^ Burrowes, Tim (4 April 2018). "Up to 311,127 Australian Facebook users may have had harvested data passed on to Cambridge Analytica". Mumbrella. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  121. ^ "Cambridge Analytica: Australia takes Facebook to court over privacy". BBC News. 9 March 2020. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  122. ^ Vij, Shivam (27 March 2018). "Exclusive: The inside story of what Cambridge Analytica actually did in India". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  123. ^ Ram, Vidya (28 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica whistleblower tweets activities in India". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  124. ^ a b c d "Whistleblower claims Cambridge Analytica's partners in India worked on elections, raising privacy fears". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  125. ^ Crabtree, Justina (27 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica is an 'example of what modern day colonialism looks like,' whistleblower says". CNBC. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  126. ^ "BJP, Cong accuse each other of hiring Cambridge Analytica's services". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 22 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  127. ^ a b "India takes down local website of Cambridge Analytica". BBC News. 21 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  128. ^ "BBC documentary clip goes viral, shows Congress poster in office of Cambridge Analytica's ex-CEO Alexander Nix". DNA India. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  129. ^ Exclusive: 'Whistleblower' Reveals Cambridge Analytica's India Link, 22 March 2018, archived from the original on 12 October 2022, retrieved 12 October 2022
  130. ^ a b "Wanted Congress defeated: Whistleblower reveals Cambridge Analytica's inside story". India Today. 23 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  131. ^ "What We Know and What We Don't About What Cambridge Analytica Did in India". The Wire. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  132. ^ "Cambridge Analytica made 2019 roadmap for Congress; party denies any deal". The Times of India. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  133. ^ Punit, Itika Sharma (5 April 2018). "Facebook admits Cambridge Analytica may have accessed the data of over 560,000 users in India – Quartz". Quartz. Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  134. ^ Dahir, Abdi Latif (20 March 2018). ""We'd stage the whole thing": Cambridge Analytica filmed boasting of its role in Kenya's polls". Quartz. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  135. ^ Moore, Jina (20 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica Had a Role in Kenya Election, Too (Published 2018)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  136. ^ Lang'at, Patrick (21 March 2018). "Exposed: Analytica staff died in Kenya". Daily Nation. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  137. ^ Matende, David (5 June 2018). "Media, like false preachers". Nairobi Law Monthly. Archived from the original on 7 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  138. ^ "Cambridge Analytica's Kenyan role queried". BBC News. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  139. ^ "Cambridge Analytica's Kenyan role queried". BBC. 20 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  140. ^ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. "Disinformation and 'fake news': Interim Report". Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  141. ^ "Henley & Partners Speaks Out on SCL, Cambridge Analytica, House of Commons Report". 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  142. ^ "UK parliamentary report calls for criminal investigation of Henley and SCL". Caribbean News Now!. Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  143. ^ "PR181687: Statement by the Government of Malta: Government of Malta makes official representations regarding UK DCMS Committee report". Government of Malta Department of Information. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  144. ^ "Passport-sellers Henley and Cambridge Analytica's Nix 'exchanged ideas' on Caribbean election". 28 March 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  145. ^ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. "Disinformation and 'fake news': Final Report". Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  146. ^ "PR190309: Statement by the Government of Malta: Malta denies allegations in report by the Select Committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport". Government of Malta Department of Information. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  147. ^ "Cambridge Analytica trabajó con el PRI: Channel 4 News". Forbes México. 30 March 2018. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  148. ^ Murillo, Javier (6 April 2018). "Cambridge Analytica, sigan la ruta del dinero". El Financiero. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  149. ^ Peinado, Fernando; Palomo, Elvira; Galán, Javier (22 March 2018). "The distorted online networks of Mexico's election campaign". El País. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  150. ^ "Exigen al INAI investigar a Cambridge Analytica, Facebook y desarrolladoras de Apps en México". Proceso. 2 April 2018. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  151. ^ Ahmed, Azam; Hakim, Danny (25 June 2018). "Mexico's Hardball Politics Get Even Harder as PRI Fights to Hold On to Power". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  152. ^ Tory donors among investors in Cambridge Analytica parent firm Archived 22 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian
  153. ^ Blakely, Rhys (22 September 2016). "Data scientists target 20 million new voters for Trump". The Times. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  154. ^ a b Barnett, Anthony (14 December 2017). "Democracy and the Machinations of Mind Control". New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on 16 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  155. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (26 February 2017). "Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media". The Observer. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  156. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (7 May 2017). "The Great British Brexit robbery how our democracy was hijacked". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 January 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  157. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (26 February 2017). "Revealed: how US billionaire helped to back Brexit". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  158. ^ Paul Lewis and Paul Hilder (23 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica misled MPs over work for Leave.EU, says ex-director". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  159. ^ Joe Murphy (24 March 2018). "Cambridge Analytica bragged: We have vast data for Brexit vote". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  160. ^ Le Masurier, Jessica (28 November 2019). "The Interview - 'Our democracy is under threat', former Cambridge Analytica employee tells FRANCE 24". France 24. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  161. ^ "What role did Cambridge Analytica play in the Brexit vote?". DW. Deutsche Welle. 27 March 2018. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  162. ^ Levy, Laurence (22 July 2014). "Participation in US Elections" (PDF). Bracewell & Giuliani LLP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018 – via MSNBC.
  163. ^ "Wylie: Foreigners worked for Cambridge Analytica on NC Senate campaign". NBC News. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  164. ^ a b Sellers, Frances Stead (19 October 2015). "Cruz campaign paid $750,000 to 'psychographic profiling' company". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  165. ^ "Much-Hyped Data Firm's Promise Could Be Tested in Iowa". Advertising Age. February 2016. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  166. ^ "Cruz-Connected Data Miner Aims to Get Inside U.S. Voters' Heads". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2 May 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  167. ^ Murphy, Brian; Bonner, Lynn (19 March 2018). "Tillis and NC Republicans paid $345,000 to the data firm that's now banned from Facebook". The News & Observer. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  168. ^ Timberg, Craig; Hamburger, Tom (25 March 2018). "Former Cambridge Analytica workers say firm sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  169. ^ Lichtblau, E; Stevenson, A (10 April 2015). "Hedge-Fund Magnate Robert Mercer Emerges as a Generous Backer of Cruz". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  170. ^ a b Harry Davies (1 February 2016). "Ted Cruz erased Trump's Iowa lead by spending millions on voter targeting". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  171. ^ Sasha Issenberg (2 February 2016). "How Ted Cruz Engineered His Iowa Triumph". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  172. ^ "Cambridge Analytica Congratulates Senator Ted Cruz on Iowa Caucus Win". PR Newswire. 2 February 2016. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  173. ^ a b c Kate Kaye (24 August 2016). "Trump Spending With Cambridge Analytica Looks Like Peanuts Compared to Cruz". Advertising Age. Archived from the original on 6 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  174. ^ Miller, Sean J. (2 February 2016). "Organization and Analytics Help Take Down Trump in Iowa". CampaignsandElections.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
  175. ^ "Data-Mining Firm Searches for Voters by Combing High School Yearbooks". Bloomberg.com. 24 November 2015. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  176. ^ a b Johnson, Eliana (5 August 2016). "The GOP nominee makes a late attempt at data-driven targeted messaging". National Review. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  177. ^ Confessore, Nicholas; Hakim, Danny (6 March 2017). "Data Firm Says 'Secret Sauce' Aided Trump; Many Scof". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  178. ^ OpenSecrets – FEC. "Top Vendors/Recipients". OpenSecrets/FEC. Archived from the original on 7 July 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  179. ^ "Data Firm Says 'Secret Sauce' Aided Trump; Many Scoff". The New York Times. 6 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  180. ^ The poison in politics runs deeper than dodgy data Archived 23 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian
  181. ^ Conradis, Brandon (2 January 2018). "Congressional investigators find irregularities in FBI's handling of Clinton email case". The Hill. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  182. ^ Woodruff, Betsy (25 October 2017). "Trump Data Guru: I Tried to Team Up With Julian Assange". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  183. ^ Kara Scannell; Dana Bash; Marshall Cohen. "Trump campaign analytics company contacted WikiLeaks about Clinton emails". CNN. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  184. ^ "Inside Russia's Social Media War on America". Time. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  185. ^ "Trump campaign's digital director agrees to meet with House Intel Committee". Politico. 14 July 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  186. ^ Lee, Carol E.; Barrett, Devlin; Harris, Shane (23 January 2017). "U.S. Eyes Michael Flynn's Links to Russia". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  187. ^ Stahl, Lesley (8 October 2017). "Parscale: TV news "thought I was a joke"". CBS News. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  188. ^ "Secret Weapon". CBS News. 8 October 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  189. ^ a b c Stahl, Lesley (8 October 2017). "Facebook "embeds," Russia and the Trump campaign's secret weapon". CBS News. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  190. ^ @JulianAssange (25 October 2017). "I can confirm an approach by Cambridge Analytica and can confirm that it was rejected by WikiLeaks" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  191. ^ Woodruff, Betsy (25 October 2017). "Trump Data Guru: I Tried to Team Up With Julian Assange". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017 – via thedailybeast.com.
  192. ^ Cohen, Marshall (27 October 2017). "Trump. Cambridge Analytica. WikiLeaks. The connections, explained". CNN. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  193. ^ Ballhaus, Rebecca (15 December 2017). "Mueller Sought Emails of Trump Campaign Data Firm". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  194. ^ "Trump campaign mined Facebook user data using Israeli 'intelligence gathering'". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  195. ^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; correspondent, Stephanie Kirchgaessner US investigations (15 February 2023). "How undercover reporters caught 'Team Jorge' disinformation operatives on camera". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 15 February 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2023. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  196. ^ a b "Cambridge Analytica: The data firm's global influence". 22 March 2018. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  197. ^ "Mapped: The breathtaking global reach of Cambridge Analytica's parent company". Quartz. 28 March 2018. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  198. ^ Robles, Raissa (12 April 2018). "How Cambridge Analytica's parent company helped 'man of action' Rodrigo Duterte win the 2016 Philippines election". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  199. ^ Placido, Dharel (10 April 2018). "Palace denies Cambridge Analytica involved in Duterte campaign". ABS-CBN News. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  200. ^ Perper, Rosie (6 April 2018). "Cambridge Analytica's parent company claimed it invented the tough guy image that got Rodrigo Duterte elected". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  201. ^ Gutierrez, Natashya (5 April 2018). "Did Cambridge Analytica use Filipinos' Facebook data to help Duterte win?". Rappler. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  202. ^ "Rappler Talk: Brittany Kaiser on protecting your data". Rappler. 15 July 2020. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  203. ^ "How the Nigerian and Kenyan media handled Cambridge Analytica". The Conversation. 9 January 2020. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  204. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (4 January 2020). "Fresh Cambridge Analytica leak 'shows global manipulation is out of control'". The Observer. The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]