Cambridge Analytica hits back at Christopher Wylie, says he ‘misrepresented' company

Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the center of Facebook data breach scandal, has hit back at whistleblower Christopher Wylie who claimed that he "believed" that the Congress party was CA's client.

"Chris Wylie was a part-time contractor who left Cambridge Analytica in July 2014 and has no direct knowledge of the company's work or practices since that date..Chris Wylie (whistleblower) has misrepresented himself and the company to the committee, and previously to the news media. He admits himself that what he says is speculation," ANI quoted Cambridge Analytica as saying.

In a major twist to series of events related to data theft, Wylie, the whistle-blower who brought to the fore misuse of Facebook data, said he believed that the Congress party was a client of Cambridge Analytica. The revelation was significant as the BJP, had last week, questioned links between the Congress and Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm accused of harvesting personal information from Facebook illegally to influence polls in several countries.

"I believe their (Cambridge Analytica) client was Congress. I don't remember a national project but I know regionally. India is so big that one state can be as big as Britain," reports quoted Wylie as saying while responding to a question on Cambridge Analytica's work in India by British Labour Party politician Paul Farrelly.

Information Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded Rahul Gandhi's apology and said that Wylie's revelation has exposed the Congress.

"Today the whistleblower Christopher Wylie has confirmed that Cambridge Analytica worked with Congress. This has exposed Rahul Gandhi who was denying all along. Congress and Rahul Gandhi must now apologise," he said.

The IT Ministry had earlier asked Cambridge Analytica - the firm at the centre of Facebook data breach scandal - to respond by March 31 on six questions, including how the company had collected user data, whether consent was taken from the individuals, and how the data was used.

OneIndia News