21 Facts About Cambridge Analytica

Cambridge Analytica Ltd, previously known as SCL USA, was a British political consulting firm that came to prominence through the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Cambridge Analytica was established as a subsidiary of the private intelligence company SCL Group that was active in military and political arenas.

Cambridge Analytica was incorporated in January 2015 with its registered office in Westferry Circus, London and just one staff member, its director and CEO Alexander James Ashburner Nix .

Cambridge Analytica combined misappropriation of digital assets, data mining, data brokerage, and data analysis with strategic communication during electoral processes.

Alexander Tayler, a former director for Cambridge Analytica, was appointed director of Emerdata on 28 March 2018.

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In 2020, the British Information Commissioner's Office closed a three-year inquiry into the company, concluded that Cambridge Analytica was "not involved" in the 2016 Brexit referendum and found no additional evidence for Russia's alleged interference during the campaign.

In July 2018, several former Cambridge Analytica staff launched Auspex International, a company intended to influence politics and society in Africa and the Middle East; another company called Emerdata had substantial overlap with Cambridge Analytica.

Cambridge Analytica showed that with a limited number of "likes", people can be analysed better than friends or relatives can do and that individual psychological targeting is a powerful tool to influence people.

Cambridge Analytica said that the video footage was "edited and scripted to grossly misrepresent" the recorded conversations and company's business practices.

Cambridge Analytica released a statement that the allegations did not represent the ethics of the company, and an independent entity would investigate Nix's statements.

In 2020 the BBC reported that the group Facebook You Owe Us had filed a lawsuit against Facebook for failing to protect users' personal data in the Cambridge Analytica breach, involving the misuse of information from almost one million users in England and Wales.

Representatives of Cambridge Analytica had a private dinner with Dan Tehan when he was then the minister responsible for cyber security, and Liberal party executives.

The business name "Cambridge Analytica" was registered in Australia to the Lorraine Family Trust in June 2015.

Cambridge Analytica was scoping both political as well as commercial work in Australia.

Cambridge Analytica functioned in India through a company called Strategic Communication Laboratories Private Limited, a venture of its parent company based in London, the SCL Group, and Ovleno India.

Cambridge Analytica suggested that CA's role in Indian elections was neocolonial in nature.

Cambridge Analytica said she felt she had lied by supporting Cambridge Analytica's company line that it had done "no paid or unpaid work" for Leave.

Cambridge Analytica advises that Nix and any foreign nationals without a green card working for the company must not be involved in any decision making regarding any work the company performs for any clients related to U S elections.

Cambridge Analytica further advises Nix to recuse himself from any involvement with the company's U S election work because he is not a U S citizen.

On 14 December 2017, it was revealed that Robert Mueller had requested during the fall of 2017 that Cambridge Analytica turn over the emails of any of its employees who worked on the Trump campaign, as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Cambridge Analytica's executives said in 2018 that the company had worked in more than 200 elections around the world, including in India, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Colombia, Cyprus, Zambia, South Africa, Romania, Italy, Lithuania, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, the Czech Republic, and Argentina.