Trump chickens out again.

[webfact]

Lawmakers publish evidence that Cambridge Analytica work helped Brexit group

 

FILE PHOTO: A person is seen inside the building which houses the offices of Cambridge Analytica as investigators from Britain's Information Commissioners Office entered, following the granting of a search warrant by a High Court judge, in London, Britain March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers on Monday published evidence that Brexit campaign group Leave.EU benefited from work by Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy at the centre of a recent storm over use of Facebook data.

 

Nigel Oakes, founder of SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, said the consultancy was lined up to do work with Leave.EU in the event that it was designated as the official campaign to leave the European Union, according to transcripts of interviews published by a parliamentary committee.

 

Oakes said that "there was no contract and no money" but that they did do work to demonstrate their capabilities. A transcript of another interview with Leave.EU official Andy Wigmore says the campaign group copied Cambridge Analytica's methods.

 

"Leave.EU benefited from their work with Cambridge Analytica before the decision was made on which Leave campaign would receive the official designation for the referendum," Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said in a statement.

 

Cambridge Analytica lies at the centre of a storm for using data obtained from millions of Facebook users without their permission after it was hired by Donald Trump for his 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.

 

The analytics firm is also under scrutiny over campaigning for the 2016 referendum when Britons voted to leave the European Union, a move seen by critics as a colossal historical mistake but by admirers as a vital reassertion of British sovereignty.

 

Oakes said Wigmore's claim to have copied Cambridge Analytica's techniques raised "more questions about how Leave.EU developed their database to do this, and whether consumer data from other companies they had a relationship was used to support their campaign."

 

The interview transcripts were submitted by Emma Briant, an academic who interviewed figures from SCL Group, Cambridge Analytica and Leave.EU.

 

In the event, "Vote Leave" beat Leave.EU to become the officially designated campaign to leave the EU ahead of Britain's referendum, though Leave.EU continued to campaign for Brexit.

 

Leave.EU founder Arron Banks has said that because it did not win the designation and due to concerns about the consultancy, it did no work with Cambridge Analytica, and received no benefit in kind.

 

Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix told the committee in February that the firm did not work with Leave.EU, but he has been recalled for a new hearing, which will take place on Wednesday.

 

The lawmakers were also critical of Wigmore and Oakes for speaking in admiring terms about Nazi propaganda techniques, and said there were also questions about Cambridge Analytica's closeness with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

 

"The propaganda machine of the Nazis, for instance – you take away all the hideous horror and that kind of stuff – it was very clever, the way they managed to do what they did," Wigmore said, according to one interview transcript.

 

Collins said that the "extreme messaging" around immigration during the campaign meant "these statements will raise concerns that data analytics was used to target voters who were concerned about this issue, and to frighten them with messaging designed to create 'an artificial enemy' for them to act against."

 

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Editing by William Maclean)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-17

[Expatthailover]

CA ...the company that supports hillbilly causes and politicians

[Trouble]

Can't quite figure out what this company did that was illegal.  They gather information and target the audience so to speak.  Isn't that was advertising, product placement, political consultants, etc. are all about?  They provide research and directed marketing. What's the fuss?  Seems like the government in both the US and Britain is now so concerned with these companies that they will need to enact laws to protect the voter from stupidity. The only thing that has changed over time is the way the information is collected and the ease with which it can be had because everyone is out there on the internet literally vomiting their life story.

[dick dasterdly]

I'm still wondering how they influenced actual votes?

 

But I haven't been following this story so could have missed something important?

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, Trouble said:

Isn't that was advertising, product placement, political consultants, etc. are all about?

For no financial gain?

"there was no contract and no money" but that they did do work to demonstrate their capabilities.

There is only their word and money could come from other "blind" or "cut-out" (foreign?) sources who might see a political advantage with the UK out of the EU. CA didn't work for free at anytime in the 2016 US elections. 

[Krataiboy]

Just the Remain campaigners scraping the excuses barrel.

[dunroaming]

57 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Just the Remain campaigners scraping the excuses barrel.

Yes amazing that, isn't it.  Every day evidence comes to light and then Brexiteers fall back on the "remainers excuses".  Some would say that they are in denial but hey! 

 

[Srikcir]

3 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

I'm still wondering how they influenced actual votes?

 

But I haven't been following this story so could have missed something important?

Isn't the idea to influence people before they vote?

[dunroaming]

7 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Isn't the idea to influence people before they vote?

the research helped them identify what influenced people and then targeted them based on their fears.  If it was immigration fears then that was the target.  If it was lack of jobs then that would be the target and so on.  Nobody is suggesting that they were responsible for all people voting the way they did but even a small percentage would have an effect.  However you can't change where we are so best to just note it and move on.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.

 

[lannarebirth]

7 hours ago, dunroaming said:

the research helped them identify what influenced people and then targeted them based on their fears.  If it was immigration fears then that was the target.  If it was lack of jobs then that would be the target and so on.  Nobody is suggesting that they were responsible for all people voting the way they did but even a small percentage would have an effect.  However you can't change where we are so best to just note it and move on.

 

Isn't that what all marketing companies do? Not excusing it as I think it is a scummy profession, but how does it differ from targeting people who are afraid of aging with cosmetic ads or plastic surgery ads. Or people that are afraid of dying with vitamin and supplement ads, or old men with testosterone ads, or every other political ad that paints the opponent as the devil incarnate and the "approver of this message" as a knight in shining armor.  Almost all marketing is based on people's fears. Are my teeth white enough? Am I too fat?  Are my clothes clean enough? It is a parasitic profession by its very nature.