New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) The Congress on Wednesday dismissed charges by the BJP linking it with Cambridge Analytica, which is accused of harvesting private data from millions of Facebook profiles to influence and identify voter behaviour.
'News about Congress engaged/engaging with Cambridge Analytica is absolutely false,' the head of the social media unit of the Congress Divya Spandana said.
Charging the BJP with levelling the allegation against the Congress to divert attention from the backlash the Government was facing on the issue of death of 39 Indians abducted in Iraq, the Congress spokesperson said, 'Can you (Ravi Shankar Prasad) please tell us why your Government lied to us about the 39 Indians who died in Iraq? You hid the information and now you’re trying to divert attention from the issue by making outrageous allegations against the Congress party.'
Earlier, in a press conference, BJP leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to come clean on the issue as he questioned the party’s association with a "rogue data analysis firm."
"Will Congress party depend upon data manipulation and theft to win votes? Mr Rahul Gandhi should explain the role of Cambridge Analytica in his social media profile," he asked.
Mr Prasad cited media reports to allege that Congress party had links with Cambridge Analytica.
"My question to Congress party is whether to win elections, Congress will depend on data manipulation and theft of data," he said. "What is the role of Cambridge Analytica in social media profile of Rahul Gandhi," he asked.
Mr Prasad quoted a newspaper report from October 2017 that revealed that the Congress party had roped in the controversial agency to run their campaign for 2019 and termed it as their 'Brahmastra' against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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