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In several of the country’s Assembly elections, SCL helped parties target their audiences based on factors such as caste, while also aiding candidates in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, according to documents made public by Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower who on Tuesday highlighted the company’s ‘extensive’ work in India, and named the Congress as its client.
On Wednesday, Wylie tweeted the documentation on SCL and SCL India — part of the SCL Group, of which Cambridge Analytica is part, in the wake of huge interest from India following his testimony to the House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sort Committee. “This is what modern colonialism looks like,” he wrote.
The documents provide a snapshot of the in-depth work the company was able to carry out during elections and beyond, for more than a decade, based on “micro-level” information on households across 600 districts, and 7 lakh villages. “Our services help clients to identify and target key groups within the population to effectively influence their behaviour to realise a desired outcome,” the company boasted in the material that highlighted its India-related work.
The Ghaziabad-headquartered company had branches across the country, including in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune.
The document only names the Janata Dal (United), and does not mention the Congress.
Work in India
The earliest work referred to was during the 2003 Rajasthan elections, when it carried out two pieces of work focused on a “major State” party’s “organisational strength” and also the voting population, including their attitudes and behaviour. Other work included the 2003 Madhya Pradesh elections for a “national party” and electoral research and strategy for the JD (U) during the Bihar elections in 2010.
Caste-based research and strategising is referred to extensively in the documents. “SCL undertook a behavioural research programme targeting over 75 per cent of households to assist the client in not only identifying the correct battlegrounds, but also the right audiences, messages and, most importantly, the right castes to target with their campaigns,” says SCL in their description of the Bihar elections.
The company was also involved in two pieces of caste-related work in Uttar Pradesh in 2011 and 2012, to help identify core and swing voters, and the best way to mobilise supporters. “Caste research informs the definition of the target audience, the extent of voter mobilisation, and or inhibition and the overall campaign strategy and message,” said SCL in separate documentation. A “better understanding” of the way caste influenced political affiliation and mobilisation would allow campaign teams to “target the population in the most effective and efficient way.”
Muresan’s death
While Wylie’s reference to the Congress has kicked up a political storm, Paul-Olivier Dehaye — of PersonalData.IO, a company that helps monitor and control the use of personal data — who also provided testimony to the committee called on Indian, Romanian and Kenyan journalists to work together to piece together the sequence of events leading up to the death of Wylie’s predecessor, Romanian national Dan Muresan, who died in Kenya.
Dehaye said his understanding was that, while Muresan, purportedly worked for the Congress, he had been paid by a billionaire to undermine the party. “He was pretending to work for one party but was actually paid underhand by someone else,” Dehaye told the committee on Tuesday.
CA slams Wylie
Following Wylie’s explosive testimony on Tuesday that raised questions about the legitimacy of Britain’s Brexit referendum, and the previous testimony provided by Cambridge Analytica’s suspended head Andrew Nix, as well as allegations around the methods the company and associated organisations had used to undermine electoral and democratic processes across the world, Cambridge Analytica slammed what it described as Wylie’s “false information, speculation and completely unfounded conspiracy theories.” They also pointed to an investigation by Kenyan authorities that had concluded there was nothing suspicious about Muresan’s death.
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