'SCL-India helped influence voters' behaviour to get desired outcome'

Christopher Wylie. Pic/AFP

Christopher Wylie, who blew the lid off the Facebook user personal data being illegally used for political purposes, on Wednesday said his former employer Cambridge Analytica (CA) had an Indian arm and conducted election research on behalf of some parties, including the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), now a BJP ally, for "desired outcome''.

Wylie said SCL Group, the parent organisation of Cambridge Analytica, has its office headquartered in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad and its regional offices in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Cuttack, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Patna and Pune.

"I've been getting a lot of requests from Indian journalists. So here are some of SCL's past projects in India. To the most frequently asked question - yes, SCL/CA works in India and has offices there. This is what modern colonialism looks like," Wylie tweeted. He posted two pictures of what looks like slides of a pitch presentation of SCL India explaining its national experience in the country. It said the company has a database of over 600 districts and seven lakh villages. But it didn't identify the source of the database.

"Our micro-level information includes household level demographics, specifically focusing on caste data, linked to online mapping applications." The SCL India, according to the tweeted document, helped clients to identify and target key groups within the population "to effectively influence their behaviour to realise a desired outcome".