Cambridge Analytica’s pitching tactics caught on video

A FIRM that worked on the Trump campaign has been caught on camera bragging about its dirty political tactics.

UNDERCOVER footage has captured executives from political data firm Cambridge Analytica discussing how it could potentially entrap an opposition leader.

Reporters from British broadcaster Channel 4 News met with the firm’s executives, posing as potential clients seeking to change the outcome of the Sri Lankan election.

In the hidden camera footage, which aired in the UK and the US overnight, the executives of the company can be seen pitching their firm and the work they do.

Reporters captured the company’s chief executive Alexander Nix discussing how the Sri Lankan opposition leader could potentially become entrapped.

Mr Nix also revealed how the company could record someone accepting a bribe or could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”.

He also said it’s easy to spread information about politicians saying it just has to be believed and not necessarily true.

The reporters also recorded Cambridge Analytica Political Global managing director Mark Turnbull discussing his relationships with former British spies who now work at private companies.

Cambridge Analytica, which worked on Donald Trump’s election campaign, has already come under fire this week over allegations that it tapped the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million people without their permission.

As revealed byThe Guardianand The New York Times, the data may have been used to influence the outcome of the United States election in 2016.

The firm, which is owned by hedge fund billionaire and Trump supporter Robert Mercer, says it can analyse consumer data — including social media and its own polling — in order to target people with marketing material.

The company has said the footage doesn’t represent the work it does. Picture: Channel 4

‘GROSS MISREPSENTATION’

In a statement, Cambridge Analytica slammed the hidden footage report which is claimed was scripted and edited to “grossly misrepresent the nature of those conversations and how it does business”.

Tonight’s @Channel4News story gives a highly misleading picture of the company and what we do. https://t.co/XlJEM9ujK3

— Cambridge Analytica (@CamAnalytica) March 19, 2018

The statement denies “any allegation that Cambridge Analytica or any of its affiliates use entrapment, bribes or so-called ‘honey-traps’ for any purpose whatsoever.”

It goes on to say Cambridge Analytica held a series of meetings to discuss philanthropic, infrastructure and political projects in Sri Lanka.

It also said an executive set out the principles which govern its work and told the reporter: “We’re not in the business of fake news, we’re not in the business of lying, making stuff up and we’re not in the business of entrapment ... There are companies that do this but to me that crosses a line.”

Mr Nix did however acknowledge he misjudged the situation and was only playing along with the ‘ludicrous’ conversation.

“In playing along with this line of conversation, and partly to spare our ‘client’ from embarrassment, we entertained a series of ludicrous hypothetical scenarios. I am aware how this looks, but it is simply not the case. I must emphatically state that Cambridge Analytica does not condone or engage in entrapment, bribes or so-called ‘honey-traps’, and nor does it use untrue material for any purpose,” he said.

“I deeply regret my role in the meeting and I have already apologised to staff. I should have recognised where the prospective client was taking our conversations and ended the relationship sooner.”

Cambridge Analytica is at the heart of a scandal over the use of personal data collected on Facebook. Picture: Loic Venance/AFP

FACEBOOK FURY

The footage comes as Britain’s information commissioner said she will apply for a warrant to access the servers of Cambridge Analytica, over the mined Facebook data.

Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a statement that she planned to seek the warrant because the British firm had been “uncooperative” in her investigation of whether Facebook data was “illegally acquired and used”.

Data from the Federal Election Commission shows that Cambridge Analytica earned $US5.9 million ($A7.6 million) in 2016 from the campaign to elect Mr Trump for president.

Cambridge also earned $US5.8 million ($A7.5 million) from Senator Ted Cruz’s failed presidential campaign.

In total, Cambridge Analytica earned more than $US16 million ($A21 million) from 2014 to 2016 from nearly 20 Republican candidates and political committees.

Facebook suspended the company from using its services on Friday, hours before the reports came out.

The tech giant first learned of the breach more than two years ago, but hasn’t disclosed it until now.

Meanwhile Cambridge Analytics former director of data research Christopher Wylie said the firm secured personal data in order to learn about individuals and then used it to create an information cocoon to change their perceptions.

He said the firm used “informational dominance” to capture every channel of information around a person to surround them with curated information, changing their perception of what’s actually happening.

In an interview on Monday on NBC’s Today, Mr Wylie said Cambridge Analytica aimed to “explore mental vulnerabilities of people”.

While he said he doesn’t know to what extent Mr Trump’s campaign used the techniques, he said the President’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was meeting with Cambridge Analytica in 2015, before he even announced his run for office.

Update: The board of Cambridge Analytica says it has suspended CEO Alexander Nix pending a full independent investigation of his actions.

The board cited comments Nix made to an undercover reporter for Britain’s Channel 4 News and other allegations of wrongdoing for its action Tuesday. It says his comments “do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view the violation.” The board says in an announcement posted on the data-mining company’s website that the suspension is effective immediately.

— with AP