So Cambridge Analytica in India. Let’s see what we have here. Long thread coming up.
Cambridge Analytica is owned by SCL Group (earlier known as Strategic Communication Laboratories) is British behavioral research and strategic communication company.
This @Channel4 expose tells you the extent to which they can influence elections: goo.gl/S4y2aN
Cambridge Analytica is accused of harvesting Facebook data of over 50 million users without permission and using it to target voters: This New York Times story has the details: goo.gl/pKNwuG
In India, Cambridge Analytica has worked both with Congress and the BJP, as per reports. @factordaily sources have confirmed this. More proof later in the thread.
This story in @thewire_in (goo.gl/EgSK3o) and this story in @EconomicTimes (goo.gl/QnCH1t) shows Cambridge Analytica operates through a company called Ovleno Business Intelligence.
A case study on Cambridge Analytica website (see screenshot) shows how it conducted in-depth electorate analysis for the Bihar Assembly Election in 2010. 
The idea was to find out swing voters. Next step: organise the party base at the village level. CA says over 90% of seats targeted were won in Bihar 2010. In that election, BJP won 91 seats. JD (U) won 115 seats.
Now, Ovleno Business Intelligence, which claimed on its website that it has worked for BJP, JDU and Congress (see screenshot) is owned by Amrish Kumar Tyagi (son of JDU’s KC Tyagi) and Sharad Tyagi.
If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that Strategic Communication Laboratories Pvt Ltd has a subsidiary in India. Amrish Tyagi, Avneesh Kumar Rai, Alexander James Ashburner Nix and Alexander Waddington Oakes are directors of the company.
Alexander Nix was suspended from Cambridge Analytica on 20 March 2018 after the Channel4 sting implicated them of wrongdoing to win elections. Nigel John Oake is the founder and CEO of SCL Group.
Amrish Tyagi also owns Span House Customer Services Pvt Limited. Avneesh Kumar Rai owns a bunch of businesses, all interestingly named. One is Stealth Analytics & Business Solutions, the other is De Bunk Media Pvt Ltd, yet another company is called Debunk Strategies Pvt Ltd.
As @free_thinker points out in this Tweet (goo.gl/rqwAUz), Himanshu Sharma of Ovleno has worked for BJP’s Mission 272+ campaign, mostly managing its call center and database of BJP supporters. Remember, this campaign that brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power.
Sharma also claims to have profiled each and every volunteer/supporter who had extended his/her support to get involved in Mission 272+. So if you gave a missed call on that toll-free number, chances are that parties have a fairly detailed profile of yours handy.
Ovleno’s website is now down. A Whois lookup shows it’s registered to Amrish Tyagi. Here’s a screenshot of their homepage from Wayback Machine. It tells you who their clients are. The link will also tell you the services they offer: goo.gl/tpSFdo
It’s not a tiny crew that operates on small projects. SCL India claims on its website that it has permanent offices in ten states across the country and 30 branch offices, 300 permanent employees and over 1,400 consulting staff.
They offer software for political intelligence, Android App for organisation and election management, access to behavioral change communications methodology in India, caste research, voter demographic data collection and analysis, behavioral polling and other services.
That's it for now. More bigly stuff soonly.
