Following stunning assertions from @MattHancock that he had no idea of the relationship between Palantir, Faculty, and Cambridge Analytica:
“um… I don’t think I’m aware of that, no”
- @allthecitizens feels this claim raises serious questions that need to be addressed. THREAD:
Did Hancock really have no idea, despite numerous detailed reports on the matter and easily available mainstream media coverage? Why was proper due diligence not done on Palantir by the Health Secretary before embedding them in the NHS?
Firstly, it’s known that Hancock, then as Culture Secretary, was well aware of the actions of Cambridge Analytica, referring to the scandal as a “turning point” in the debate about online privacy.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
In fact, Matt Hancock was so acutely aware of the dangers posed by Cambridge Analytica and Facebook that his department co-sponsored the 2018 Data Protection Bill in the wake of the scandal.
bills.parliament.uk/bills/2158
His statement on the subject -
ukpol.co.uk/matt-hancock-2…
In 2018 Hancock even held a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, during the same time period MZ was being called upon to appear before the select committee in relation to the CA scandal. Spoiler alert: MZ never appeared and is in contempt of Parliament.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…
It is, of course, possible that Hancock didn’t know that Palantir CEO Peter Thiel sits on the board of Facebook, and was Zuckerberg’s first outside investor...
wsj.com/articles/peter…
It’s also possible that he was unaware of testimony from CA whistleblower Chris Wylie given to the DCMS Parliamentary Select Committee on Disinformation and ‘fake news’, in which he stated in March 2018:
However, this does seem strange considering that the select committee fell under the umbrella of DCMS, at the same time Hancock was DCMS Secretary of State, (Jan - July 2018), during which he pushed forward the Data Protection Bill following the select committee revelations…
2 weeks ago Dominic Cummings characterised Hancock as untrustworthy, “lying to everybody on multiple occasions” saying he should have been sacked on 15 to 20 occasions! Was he right? If Hancock was lying today it would seem plausible.
But, if Hancock really didn’t know Palantir and Faculty have links to Cambridge Analytica … how on earth can we trust him with our nation's health data? He clearly hasn’t done any due diligence at all and is unfit for the job.
If he did know and is lying - he is again unfit for the job.
Whichever is the case, @allthecitizens have our own questions for the Health Secretary, and we will carry on keeping the receipts
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