Documentary Shows Congress Poster in Cambridge Analytica’s Office

The Congress, meanwhile, has categorically denied any involvement or association with Cambridge Analytica.

Even as the Congress and the BJP continue to trade barbs over the involvement of Cambridge Analytica (CA) in their respective electoral campaigns, a documentary released last year indicates at the company’s alleged links with the Congress party.

The documentary, titled ‘The Persuasion Machine’, was released by journalist and tech blogger Jamie Bartlett, and investigated the role of technology in the 2016 US Presidential elections.

An Economic Times report spotted the Congress poster at the office of the now-suspended CEO of CA, Alexander Nix, in the documentary.

In the documentary, Barlett interviews Nix to understand the role of technology in the Trump campaign.

Over the course of the documentary, the camera veers towards the wall behind Nix where he has displayed posters of his clientele, perhaps in a bid to establish the company’s credit.

The Congress poster is clearly displayed in a frame, with the motto “Development for All”, standing out in bold letters, right below the party symbol of the Hand.  

Although, as the Economic Times report notes, Barlett hardly touches upon anything other than the Trunp campaign, Nix interview reveals a lot with regard to the work undertaken by CA.

In the documentary, Nix explains how the company used data from Facebook and other sources to create psychographic profiles of the voters, so as to predict, and thereby influence their voting choices.

This, he says, enabled the campaign to move away from “blanket advertising”, towards a more personalised communication.

When Barlett questions him on if or not people would find this method “creepy”, Nix is reported to have said that the shift was a very “natural progression that is only going to increase” in the coming years.

In the next 10 years, the sheer volumes of data that are going to be available, that are going to be driving all sorts of things including marketing and communications, is going to be a paradigm shift from where we are now and it’s going to be a revolution, and that is the way the world is moving. And, you know, I think, whether you like it or not, it is an inevitable fact.

Nix in the documentary, as reported by Economic Times

The Congress, meanwhile, has categorically denied any involvement or association with CA.