Ex-Cambridge Analytica employee names Congress as client

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie on Tuesday told British Parliament that his company worked in India and that he "believe" Congress was a client.

"I believe their (Cambridge Analytica) client was Congress but I know that they have done all kinds of projects. I don't remember a national project but I know regionally. India's so big that one state can be as big as Britain," he said as part of his deposition.

Wylie also told the lawmakers that 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."

Data analytics expert and formerly an employee at Cambridge Analytica, Wylie, alleged that the political consultancy firm used personal information harvested from more than 50 million Facebook users to influence elections.

Soon after the news broke, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi told reporters that this vindicated BJP's allegations that Congress used the services of Cambridge Analytica during the Gujarat Assembly elections last year.

"Congress and Rahul Gandhi must now apologise," he demanded.

The Congress hit back saying "He (Prasad) is perpetually lying" and challenged the government to register an FIR against CA, its India partner Ovleno Business Intelligence (OBI) and Facebook.

"It is all false. Why is India's perpetually lying Law Minister throwing allegations in the media. He is in power why doesn't he show all the evidences and register an FIR against these companies. We challenge you. They fear they will be exposed if they initiate a probe," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Surjewala also said that if Prasad could not answer to the questions raised by the Congress, he must resign. "If you can't answer, you better quit your office. You have no right to remain law minister of this country," he said.

--IANS

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