Cambridge Analytica tried to influence voters in Nigeria during the 2015 General Election, it has been learnt.
The Guardian UK has said it is in possession of a violently graphic video, made by Cambridge Analytica designed to influence voters’ decision in the 2015 Presidential election.
The video has since been been released to the British parliament.
According to a report by the Guardian, Cambridge Analytica sought to use the violent imagery to present Mohammadu Buhari, as a supporter of Sharia law who would brutally suppress opposition and negotiate with extremists.
The paper observed that the report aligns with the testimony of the whistleblower Christopher Wylie to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee last week.
“(The video was distributed) in Nigeria with the sole intent of intimidating voters. It included content where people were being dismembered, where people having their throats cut and bled to death in a ditch. They were being burned alive. There was incredibly anti-Islamic, threatening messages portraying Muslims as violent,” Wylie testified.
He further said that Cambridge Analytica directed AggregateIQ (AIQ), the Candian digital services firm that worked for Vote Leave during Britain’s EU referendum, to target voters with the video during the Nigerian presidential campaign.
The whistleblower has now handed over the material to British MPs.
Source: BusinessDay