Cambridge Analytica: links to Moscow oil firm and St Petersburg university

[iluvtennis]

Link to tweet

Evan McMullin: The Cambridge Analytica story keeps getting more troubling. The academic who harvested millions Facebook profiles had ties to the Russian gov and CA at least considered business with sanctioned Russian company Lukoil. Did that Facebook data go to Moscow??

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-academic-trawling-facebook-had-links-to-russian-university

Aleksandr Kogan, the Cambridge University academic who orchestrated the harvesting of Facebook data, had previously unreported ties to a Russian university, including a teaching position and grants for research into the social media network, the Observer has discovered. Cambridge Analytica, the data firm he worked with – which funded the project to turn tens of millions of Facebook profiles into a unique political weapon – also attracted interest from a key Russian firm with links to the Kremlin.

Energy firm Lukoil, which is now on the US sanctions list and has been used as a vehicle of government influence, saw a presentation on the firm’s work in 2014. It began with a focus on voter suppression in Nigeria, and Cambridge Analytica also discussed “micro-targeting” individuals on social media during elections.

The revelations come at a time of intense US scrutiny of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, with 13 Russians criminally charged last month with interfering to help Donald Trump.

In Britain, concerns about Russian propaganda have been mounting, with the prime minister, Theresa May, recently attacking Russia for spreading fake news, accusing Moscow of attempts to “weaponise information” and influence polls.

Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil company, discussed with Cambridge Analytica the data company’s powerful social media marketing system, which was already being deployed for Republican Ted Cruz in the US presidential primaries and was later used to back Brexit and Trump.

...continued at link

[hedda_foil]

1. At last, we have the missing link to the Trump/Russia Cambridge Analytica Russia/Trump story.

The Cambridge professor who wrote the code was a Russian -- if I may be so bold -- asset.

[Wwcd]

2. K & R Thank you for posting

[wiggs]

3. Read this blog post from more than a year ago. Russian spy ring at Cambridge, used

by Putin and Trump.

More recent posts also discuss Cambridge Analytica in the context of Trump tower and sanctioned SVB Bank. This was her first blog post, during inauguration month...and, lots of dots connected. Read all but especially part 3. IMHO impressive dot-connecting.

https://patribotics.blog/2017/01/17/dear-mr-putin-lets-play-chess-louise-mensch-trump-russia/

(Many don't read Mensch's posts, and that's fine. I get many of their reasons. But it has to be said that there is a lot of interesting information there, and much of it was WAY ahead of most reporting. I have no problem reading both Mensch and Abramson -- no fans of each other apparently -- and taking reasonable points from each, all just food for thought trying to connect dots. Mensch connects rumors/sources with research and suggests connections...Abramson connects news with his extensive legal background and uses logic to make connections, so he stays in bounds more but is laser focused and deadly serious. Both are active on twitter)

[BadGimp]

4. FINALLY!

As usual, the media is chasing the wrong story. Going after Facebook is easy and overlooks the more important aspect of the story.

Follow The Data. Cambridge Analytica only mined and massaged the data. Someone else used the data to do ad and message targeting. WHO WAS THAT. Then the much bigger question is DID THE RUSSIANS GET THEIR HANDS ON THE DATA? And if they did, WHO GAVE IT TO THEM.?

I have been saying to anyone who would listen: The Russians did not have the data needed to launch and manage their disinformation efforts. Someone gave them the data they needed. WHO GAVE THE RUSSIANS THE DATA?

(I am copying here, my own comment from another thread)