The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a case against UK-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica and Global Science Research Ltd for illegally harvesting the personal data of 5.62 lakh Indian Facebook users for commercial purposes. In March 2018, several international media firms cited former Cambridge Analytica employees, associates and documents to report that the company had harvested the private information of over 50 million Facebook users across the globe without their permission.
The CBI's action came after a preliminary enquiry into the matter which showed that GSRL had created an app "thisisyourdigitallife" which was authorised by Facebook to collect specific datasets of its users for research and academic purposes in 2014, they said. This enquiry led CBI book charges against both the firm for criminal conspiracy and cybercrime.
In 2016-17, Facebook had collected certificates from both the firms that data collected by them using "thisisyourdigitallife" was accounted for and destroyed.
However, the officials said that the CBI enquiry has not found any evidence of any such said destruction.
"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," an official said, citing the FIR.
Facebook in its response to CBI’s enquiry has stated that GSRL had illegally collected all private data of about 5.62 lakh Indian users and then procured them to Cambridge Analytica.
It is alleged, the firm has utilised this private data information to influence elections in India.
The data collected includes information like demographic information, pages liked, and contents on private chats, which was collected without the knowledge and consent of the app users.
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The CBI has filed cases under Sections 120(B) of IPC and 66B, 85 and 43 (a) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
India has more than 20 crores Facebook users.