London: Whistleblower Christopher Wylie has promised more information on Cambridge Analytica’s projects in India. At his first public appearance after the data analyst implicated his former employer in manipulating elections, Wylie joined Fair Vote UK campaigners at Parliament Square in London on Thursday evening to protest Brexit and demand a new referendum.While Wylie told reporters, keen to question him on India, that “I’m not going to talk about India today. We will talk about it another time”, he agreed that the issues surrounding the alleged Cambridge Analytica link to Indian elections “is quite important” and it is “quite possible” that more information on India will come from him at a later date. When The Wire asked him if he would give more specific information on allegations of manipulations during elections in India, he replied “yes” while insisting he wanted to speak on Brexit at the moment.On further questioning about whether Facebook data of Indians was breached, Wylie maintained a stoic silence. In India, the lack of hard evidence has set off a political slugfest between the BJP and Congress over whether the services of the controversial data analytics firm and its India partners were actually used in any elections.Dressed in his favourite orange ‘Warszawa’ sweatshirt – perhaps inspired by David Bowe’s song of the 1970s – and a pair of dark jeans, with his iconic pink hair and glasses, Wylie was the man Londoners braved the cold and wet weather to hear speak. In his short address to the public, Wylie admitted that he “created a company called Cambridge Analytica” and was here to talk about the “profound impact that company has had”. Championing fair electionsWylie made a passionate plea for fair elections and admitted that while he was an immigrant, London was his adopted home and that he cares “deeply about democracy”. Wylie holds the Tier 1- Exceptional Talent Visa, given to less than 200 people a year to live and work in the UK. The 28-year-old also confessed that he made mistakes at the data firm and is now trying to rectify them by championing the cause of fair elections in a democracy. “How can we have trust in any election in the future if we simply allow cheating to happen? If we allow money to buy a vote?” he asked his audience, amidst loud applause.Wylie has admitted receiving threats. Many are angry with him too. Not everyone in the audience was impressed and some shouted that he had “lied to the people for two years” and should be “put behind bars for fraud”. Security guards did not give Wylie an opportunity to wait and chat but rushed him to a waiting taxi. Missing evidence in CA-India linkWhile Wylie made no references to India, misuse of data, electoral fraud, behavioural manipulation and right to a fair election formed the essence of his speech. Repeated attempts made to elicit further details about Cambridge Analytica’s clients in India got no response from Wylie. While adamant that he would not digress from the issue of Brexit, he clarified to Indian journalists on at least two occasions that he would be releasing some more documents implicating Cambridge Analytica’s role in elections in India.However, to date, the names of political parties and candidates involved remain either unconfirmed due to the lack of hard evidence or obscure with regard to who actually carried out the work that was done. “I believe it’s [Cambridge Analytica] client was Congress”, Wylie had said, in a testimony to UK’s House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on Tuesday. On Thursday, the committee released documents submitted by Wylie as part of his testimony. None of the documents actually mention the Congress Party. In one such document, it is mentioned that the SCL completed a project between 2009-2010 assessing the phenomenon of honour killings in India’s Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan by “examining the cultural and social systems that gave rise to killings” through a system of “problem space mapping” that helped propose various interventions. There is no mention of who the client for this project was. Also, given to the committee were four pages from a brochure of SCL India, highlighting a success record both nationally and internationally. SCL India’s national projects were tweeted by Wylie on Wednesday and claim to include both regional and national elections. It mentioned only one political party – JD(U) availing SCL India’s services for behavioural manipulation of voters in Bihar in 2010. Its international experience included Kenya, Nigeria, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Romania, Italy, Latvia and St. Kitts & Nevis. As The Wire has pointed out though, the London-based data analytics firm would often take credit for the work done by their Indian associates to misleadingly show a larger portfolio of experience, even if they had played no actual role in carrying out those projects. SCL India’s brochure also contained case studies that boast of: a political research and strategy project in Thailand which involved “a comprehensive research followed by a targeted intervention, [that] radically changed voters’ behaviour”; and a democratic reform project in Indonesia where “covert sponsorship of peaceful rallies prevented disorder and ensured a smooth transition to civilian rule” at the behest of “pro-democratic groups”. Why was SCL India marketing its services based on these case studies and who were the clients it was targeting? Which political parties or politicians showed interest and who hired their services and for what purpose? None of the documents supplied by Wylie provide any answers. The documents lack names of clients and crucial details of projects like costs and benefits. This can only lead to more speculation. Wylie’s attempt to avoid discussing SCL/Cambridge Analytica’s India operations only creates more mystery around the alleged corruption and unethical practices adopted in Indian elections. This negates Wylie’s firm belief that “we should support clarity and integrity in the democratic process”. For the sake of his own conviction to safeguard democracy, Wylie needs to show evidence that the world’s largest democracy has used voters’ data to manipulate behaviour to gain success in elections. Wylie has promised answers. But will he keep his word? A billion people are waiting.Ruhi Khan is a journalist and social scientist based in London. She tweets @khanruhi
