The CBI has booked UK-based Cambridge Analytica and Global Science Research Ltd for illegally harvesting data of Facebook users in India for commercial purposes.
Preliminary enquiry into the matter showed that Global Science Research had created an app “thisisyourdigitallife” which was authorised by Facebook to collect specific datasets of its users for research and academic purposes in 2014. The company then entered into a criminal conspiracy with Cambridge Analytica, allowing it to use the data harvested by it for commercial purposes.
Facebook had collected certificates from both the firms in 2016-17 that data collected by them using “thisisyourdigitallife” was accounted for and destroyed. According to the officials, the CBI enquiry did not find any evidence of any such destruction.
An enquiry into the matter established that Global Science Research Limited fraudulently accessed data of app users of “thisisyourdigitallife” and their Facebook friends.
