In a highly anticipated hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, lawmakers questioned Christopher Wylie, a former research director for the shadowy political data firm Cambridge Analytica[1], about the company's history of privacy violations, its contacts with Russia, and its work with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign[2]. But an even more fundamental question formed the crux of the inquiry: Did all of the black magic Cambridge Analytica sold to clients, from politicians to defense agencies, really even work[3]?
The hearing came just a day after The New York Times reported[4] that the now shuttered[5] company is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department in what appears to be a look at the company's finances. In his written testimony, Wylie confirmed he had been contacted by the FBI and the DOJ, and was cooperating with their investigation.
Disinformation Campaign
In preparation for his testimony, Wylie sent the committee a 71-point list[6] of concerns he has about Cambridge Analytica's work and evidence he has to back up those concerns, including a lengthy section on Russia. According to Wylie, former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix once sent the Russian oil juggernaut Lukoil, which is sanctioned by the United States government, a white paper laying out all of the data Cambridge Analytica had on Americans.
'Cambridge Analytica specialized in disinformation, spreading rumors, kompromat, and propaganda.'
Christopher Wylie, Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower
If Nix was so freely sharing this information with Russian companies, wondered senator Dianne Feinstein, might it have also shared information with Russian operatives at the Internet Research Agency[7], which conducted a propaganda campaign online?
"I can't say definitively that this had any