CAMBRIDGE Analytica, the data analytics firm banned by Facebook, has denied the use of unethical and illegal practices in its election campaign consultancy work as alleged in a Channel 4 News undercover video report.

The firm said the secret recording of conversations between two of its senior executives and an undercover reporter had been “edited and scripted to grossly misrepresent the nature of those conversations and how the company conducts its business”.

The two executives were meeting with a Channel 4 reporter posing as a fixer for a wealthy Sri Lankan family, wanting to know how the company could help get future candidates elected in the country.

“The undercover reporter later attempted to entrap Cambridge Analytica executives by initiating a conversation about unethical practices. 

“After several meetings discussing ostensibly legitimate projects, the reporter unexpectedly and suddenly turned the conversation towards practices, such as corruption and the entrapment of political figures,” a statement by the company said.

It added that its executives were trained to assess the legality and reputational risks of projects and would hold conversations with prospective clients to decide whether to proceed with a client.

However, the firm’s CEO, Alexander Nix, admitting misjudging the situation.

“In playing along with this line of conversation, and partly to spare our ‘client’ from embarrassment, we entertained a series of ludicrous hypothetical scenarios. I am aware how this looks, but it is simply not the case.

“I must emphatically state that Cambridge Analytica does not condone or engage in entrapment, bribes or so-called ‘honey traps’, and nor does it use untrue material for any purpose.

“I deeply regret my role in the meeting and I have already apologised to staff. I should have recognised where the prospective client was taking our conversations and ended the relationship sooner.”

Cambridge Analytica worked with US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

It was banned from Facebook after failing to delete user data sent to it by a popular psychology test app maker.

According to its website, Cambridge Analytica has offices in four major cities in the world and one mysteriously in the Kota Damansara suburb outside Kuala Lumpur. But a visit by The Malaysian Insight to the address on Sunday found it to be a house in a gated and guarded community.

The owner, who has lived there for four years, said the office did not exist at the address listed on the website.

In the same Channel 4 News undercover video, the two executives stated that they have done election campaign work in Malaysia.

“If you’re collecting data on people and you’re profiling them that gives you more insight that you can use to know how to segment the population to give them messaging about issues that they care about and language, and imagery that they’re likely to engage with, and we use that in America, we use that in Africa, that’s what we do as a company. 

“We’ve done it in Mexico, we’ve done it in Malaysia and now we’re going to Brazil,” CA Political Global managing director Mark Turnbull was recorded as saying.

Cambridge Analytica’s parent company is Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL).

The Malaysian Insight has contacted SCL’s Southeast Asia head, Azrin Zizal, and is awaiting a response. – March 20, 2018.