The minister for Information Technology also said any attempts to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will not be tolerated.
New Delhi: Information Technology and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned Wednesday whether the Congress party and its president Rahul Gandhi had links with UK-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.
“My question to Congress party is whether to win elections, Congress will depend on data manipulation and theft of data,” he said.
“What is the role of Cambridge Analytica in social media profile of Rahul Gandhi,” he asked.
He alleged that Cambridge Analytica, the agency roped in by Congress to run their 2019 campaign and termed as their ‘Brahmastra’ in certain section of media, is accused of using bribes, sex workers to entrap politicians and stealing data from Facebook.
He also tweeted:
Will the Congress Party now depend upon data manipulation and data theft to win elections? Asks @rsprasad
— RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018
How much data of Indians have the Congress Party shared with foreign firms like Cambridge Analytica? Asks @rsprasad
— RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018
This is not just a question of Congress Party’s association with a rogue data analysis firm but it is a question of free and fair elections in India and democratic values of our country: @rsprasad
— RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018
The minister also warned social media platforms like Facebook of ‘strong action’ if any attempt was made by them to influence the country’s electoral process through undesirable means.
Amid probe by US privacy watchdog over a potential breach of user confidentiality by Facebook, Prasad said the government fully supports freedom of press, speech and expression and is for exchange of ideas on social media.
But any attempt by social media sites, including Facebook, to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will not be tolerated, he told reporters in Parliament House complex.
“If need be, strong action will be taken,” he said.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an independent government body charged with insuring that companies abide by their own privacy policies, is looking at whether Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree after media reports alleged that it had handed the data of millions of users to a political consultancy.
Reports had alleged that Cambridge Analytica used data mined from Facebook in the voter research it conducted for President Donald Trump during the 2016 elections campaign.