The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought information from Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and Global Science Research (GSR) in connection with illegal data collection of Indian users.

The probe agency, which is examining a reference from the government to probe the activities of British political research firm Cambridge Analytica, has reportedly written to all three companies.

Advertisement

CBI has registered a ‘Preliminary Enquiry (PE)’ against the firms on 8 August. It had received a reference from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in July to investigate the role of Cambride Analytica in the data breach scandal that engulfed Facebook.

Union Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told Parliament on 26 July that the government has ordered the CBI to probe and find out if the British company had violated Indian laws.

“It is suspected that Cambridge Analytica may have been involved in illegally obtaining data of Indians which could be misused. The government has entrusted this issue to be investigated by the CBI for possible violation of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and IPC,” Prasad told the Rajya Sabha.

Facebook had in April this year admitted that nearly 5.62 lakh people in India were “potentially affected” without consent by the global data breach involving Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook has over 20 crore users in India. The Mark Zuckerberg-owned company had said that the data of about 87 million people – mostly in the US – might have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.

On 2 May, Cambridge Analytica had announced that it had filed applications to commence insolvency proceedings in the UK. The firm said that SCL Elections Ltd, the elections division of Cambridge’s British affiliate SCL Group, will also be a part of the insolvency. On 17 May, CA’s attorney filed for bankruptcy.

Read More: Cambridge Analytica files for bankruptcy in US

Besides affecting the accounts of Indians, CA compromised personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users and worked with Donald Trump’s team ahead of the US Presidential election.

Owned by the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, CA has maintained that accusations levelled against it were unfounded. The company said it had been “vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas”.

(With inputs from agencies.)