How to win polls & influence people: Cambridge Analytica's subtle art

Ever since British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica came in controversy after a few newspapers reported it had harvested personal data about Facebook users for election messaging, there are concerns over elections being influenced by unfair use of data analytics. The controversy has not only impacted the US and the UK but India too. Ovleno Business Intelligence (OBI), the Indian partner of Cambridge Analytica and SCL, has used data analytics to influence several elections since 2010.

"In early 2010, we were developing new political tools using mobiles. Back then we were just discovering the power of the changes afoot. I remember some politicians would ask me ‘how can you win elections with a mobile phone or computer'?" said OBI head Amrish Tyagi in an interview to ET last year. Winning elections with mobile phone is an accurate description of the art and craft of Tyagi's company. In 2016, Tyagi, the son of politician KC Tyagi, helped Donald Trump win the US elections. The Ghaziabad resident was part of an elite team put together by big data-led political communication consultancy Cambridge Analytica.




Update: The website of OBI was suspended on Wednesday night after the BJP and the Congress accused each other of availing of its services for electoral campaigns.

"Earlier elections were driven by rural areas. But after globalisation, things changed. Before, elders of the family or its oldest member decided who the rest would vote for. Today the highest earner decides. They are usually the young who’ve moved to cities. When they return home, they make the call based on what’s happening in cities. They are all on social media. India has 60 crore social media users," Tyagi told ET.

Tyagi explained why mobile phone can shape people's opinion in India—because it links people to social media. "The role of social media is critical because you have to create a brand now. The individual brand is more important. Shaping, changing and making perception on social media is easy. We are living in a perception-based era. What’s in WhatsApp is reality," he said.

Messaging through mobile phone can mould mass opinion much faster than any other means such as speeches or posters. Earlier, one wrong step by a politician before elections could wipe out months of messaging he had done. But now his image can be salvaged quickly through mobile phones. Tyagi cited an example to prove this point. "I remember sitting in the war room during the Bihar assembly elections in 2015. Suddenly a photo from 2014 of Nitish Kumarji hugging a tantrik showed up in the feeds. It went viral very quickly. We had to counter this. Within a few minutes, we came out with a 2014 photo of Smriti Irani in which she was showing her hand to an astrologer in Rajasthan who told her that she will very soon be the president of India. You have to be very quick to counter," he said.

It is more than evident that what people think of a politician and his plank is now a matter of what kind of messaging he is able to do. If he has the power of data analytics at his command, he can turn the tables on his opponents through just a mobile phone. Tyagi did that for Trump in the 2016 US elections. Tyagi’s team suggested that Trump’s daughter-in-law celebrate Diwali at a Hindu temple in Virginia, an important swing-state.

"My role was to figure the concerns of the Indian-American population. At the time, they were a bit afraid of Trump’s views on jobs and immigrants. My research threw up interesting results. While afraid for their jobs, Indian-Americans were ideologically closer to Trump. For instance, his hard stance on Pakistan. We suggested he stop targeting Indian jobs. As the elections progressed we saw Trump praising Indians for their contributions and intelligence," Tyagi said.

On the fairness on the methods adopted by Cambridge Analytica, Tyagi said the information was gathered from the public domain. "Once you win an election, opponents invariably target you. When it’s a big election, different allegations surface. Most of the information we gather is in public domain. Based on where you shop, the music you buy from the Apple store, trips to the hair salon. It’s easy nowadays to identify individual tastes and habits. And then accordingly, create messages. Every day we receive commercial messages," Tyagi said.

Also Read: https: //blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/et-commentary/why-donald-trump-needs-to-play-around-certain-tricks/