The closure of Cambridge Analytica (CA) and the associated firm SCL Elections will not have any impact on two U.K. investigations into the data analytics company.
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office, which is investigating SCL Group and CA as part of a wider probe into the use of personal data and analytics in political campaigns and beyond, said it would continue its civil and criminal investigations and pursue individuals and directors “as appropriate and necessary”. It will also monitor successor companies to “ensure the public is safeguarded”.
“We will be examining closely the details of the announcements of the winding down of Cambridge Analytica and the status of its parent company,” it said in a statement.
A separate investigation by the House of Commons committee on digital, culture, media and sport into fake news will also continue to examine issues relating to the organisation.
“Cambridge Analytica and SCL group cannot be allowed to delete their data history by closing. The investigations into their work are vital,” said the committee’s chair Damian Collins.
Earlier this week, the committee sent a strongly-worded letter to Facebook, with 40 questions that had not yet been answered in its testimony, and a deadline of May 11 for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to agree to give evidence directly to the panel before May 24, failing which a formal summons could be issued to him.
Insolvency proceedings
On Wednesday night, CA said it and SCL Elections would be commencing insolvency proceedings after “numerous and unfounded” accusations, vilification, and “siege of media coverage” had “driven away virtually all of the company’s customers and suppliers”.
Over the past months, CA and its associated organisations have been embroiled in allegations that the Facebook profiles of millions of Americans had been wrongly harvested and used by the company, while a separate undercover investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 News pointed to some of the unsavoury tactics that the company touted as some of the means that it used to help political campaigns achieve their goals.
Questions have also been raised around the role the company played in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and campaigns for Britain to leave the EU, as well as in India and beyond. Documents made public by whistleblower Christopher Wylie highlighted the “extensive” work conducted by SCL Elections in India, helping parties target audiences based on factors such as caste.
“Cambridge Analytica specialises in disinformation! We need to make sure their shutdown is not just some rebranding or a way to hide from investigations. The SAME PEOPLE set up ANOTHER COMPANY and yesterday issued new company resolutions!,” tweeted Mr. Wylie, pointing to Emerdata, a company set up in August 2017.
According to Emerdata’s Companies House record in the U.K., its business involves “data processing, hosting and related activities”, while Alexander Nix, the suspended CEO of CA, was appointed as a director in February, only for this to be terminated in April.
