If it's not bad enough to imagine Cambridge Analytica building psychosocial profiles of voters from Facebook, brace yourself because this video exposes them for the cynical ratfckers they are.
Channel 4 wired up a reporter and sent him out as a wealthy Sri Lankan fixer interested in engaging Cambridge Analytica for an upcoming election. In different meetings, the reporter met with Alexander Nix, president of the firm along with Mark Turnbull, the managing director of CA Political Global, and the company’s chief data officer, Dr Alex Tayler.
In one interview, Nix told the reporter he could “send some girls around to the candidate’s house”; mentioning that that Ukrainian girls “are very beautiful, I find that works very well”.
Nix also said, "We’re used to operating through different vehicles, in the shadows, and I look forward to building a very long-term and secretive relationship with you.”
What happens to that compromising information after it is obtained? Turnbull had some answers for that.
“We just put information into the bloodstream of the internet, and then, and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again," Turnbull explained. "It has to happen without anyone thinking, ‘that’s propaganda’, because the moment you think ‘that’s propaganda’, the next question is, ‘who’s put that out?’.”
Well yes, indeed,
Because it's essential that ratfcking like this be done with no accountability, paper trail, or other incriminating information, Cambridge Analytica takes precautions.
"Many of our clients don’t want to be seen to be working with a foreign company," Turnbull told the reporter. (Also, in countries like the United States it's illegal, so there's that.) "So...we can set up fake IDs and websites, we can be students doing research projects attached to a university, we can be tourists, there’s so many options we can look at."
He went on to say that their role is to move in, and then move out, unnoticed, except for the damage they leave behind.
They said all of these things after Turnbull insisted they did not work to set up or blackmail candidates, saying that was just an icky line they do not cross at Cambridge Analytica.
In a written statement to Channel 4, Cambridge Analytica strongly denied the allegations made by their officers.
“We entirely refute any allegation that Cambridge Analytica or any of its affiliates use entrapment, bribes, or so-called “honey-traps” for any purpose whatsoever," they wrote. "We routinely undertake conversations with prospective clients to try to tease out any unethical or illegal intentions."
So, all of that was a reverse sting on the reporter, then. Sure thing.
They also said, "Cambridge Analytica does not use untrue material for any purpose.” Of course, setting up honey pots and using the fruits of the setup doesn't imply use of untrue material. It's quite like what Russian intelligence services have been doing for years.
They reportedly also insisted that there's nothing illegal about opposition research. That, too, is true. It's also true that creating the dirt to dig up and use is quite illegal and exploitive.
Watch the video. It really is shocking. And while you watch it, consider that Stephen K. Bannon was an officer of that company until he went inside the White House. Imagine the dirt he dug up on some folks.
