Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Ex-Trump aide Bannon promoted 'culture war': Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

Published 05/16/2018, 06:59 PM
Updated 05/16/2018, 07:01 PM
© Reuters. Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie andother witnesses are sworn in during Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington

© Reuters. Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie andother witnesses are sworn in during Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former aide Steve Bannon sought to use personal information collected online to promote "a culture war," a whistleblower on now-defunct political data firm Cambridge Analytica told U.S. senators on Wednesday.

Bannon, a former Cambridge Analytica vice president, "saw cultural warfare as a means to create enduring change in American politics," testified Christopher Wylie, who says information about tens of millions of Facebook (O:FB) users ended up in Cambridge Analytica's hands.

Bannon's attorney William Burck did not immediately respond to an email request for comment on Wylie's testimony.

Wylie, who worked for SCL, the British-based parent of Cambridge Analytica, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Cambridge Analytica hired hackers to collect data it then used against opponents of its political clients.

Allegations of the improper use of data for 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, which was hired by Trump's 2016 election campaign, have led to investigations in the United States and Europe.

Bannon worked on Trump's campaign and became a White House aide when Trump took office in January 2017. Bannon left in August 2017.

Wylie, who has provided reports about how the firm used data Facebook collected, on Wednesday described discussions at the company about suppressing the vote, exploiting racial tensions, and testing campaign slogans in 2014 for use in the 2016 election.

"One of the things that did provoke me to leave was the beginnings of discussions of voter disengagement, I have seen documents reference and I recall conversations that it was intended to focus on African-American voters," Wylie said.

"The company learned that there were segments of the population that responded to messages like 'drain the swamp' or images of border walls or indeed paranoia about the 'deep state' that weren't necessarily reflected in mainstream polling or mainstream political discourse that Steve Bannon was interested in to help build his movement," Wylie said.

Another witness who testified to the judiciary committee, Tufts University associate professor Eitan Hersh, said he was "skeptical" of the effectiveness that such political messaging and targeting. "No person is persuadable all the time," he said.

© Reuters. Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie andother witnesses are sworn in during Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington

As part of an investigation into U.S. allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking into how Russian intelligence agencies timed and targeted emails hacked from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and others. The Kremlin denies interfering in the U.S. election.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.