The CBI has filed a case against Cambridge Analytica and Global Science Research Ltd based in the UK. The cause is illegally harvesting data of Facebook users in India for commercial purposes, according to officials.
After an initial inquiry, it was discovered that Global Science Research had designed an app called, “thisisyourdigitallife” which was permitted by Facebook to collect specific datasets of its users for research and academic purposes in 2014, Moneycontrol reported.
The company set foot into a criminal conspiracy with Cambridge Analytica, allowing it to utilize the data gathered for commercial purposes, said the officials.
Facebook had collected certificates from the companies in 2016-2017 that the data harvested using “thisisyourdigitallife” was attributed and destroyed. Although the CBI did not find any proof of destruction of data, according to the officials.
Citing the FIR, an official said, “The enquiry prima facie established that Global Science Research Ltd, UK dishonestly and fraudulently accessed data of app users of “thisisyourdigitallife” and their Facebook friends.”
The government commanded to have a CBI probe in the issue after US tech giant company, Facebook admitted that 5.62 lakh people in India were “potentially affected” by the global data breach by CA and contended that the consulting firm did not have its consent in hijacking the data.
The data breach is being investigated by the CBI after the government’s order. They received a reference from the ministry of information and technology.
