The Guardian one more time delivered another amazing story that will catch your attention, the Britain newspaper reveals eighteen enforcement officers have entered the Cambridge Analytica headquarters in London’s West End to search the premises after the data watchdog was granted a warrant to examine its records.
All that just happened only four days after the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, first announced plans to raid the offices, a judge issued a warrant on Friday evening.
Denham has been seeking access to records held by the London-based data analytics company which faces allegations it may have illegally acquired the information of millions of Facebook users and used it to profile and target voters during political campaigns.
Mr. Justice Leonard granted the warrant after a five-hour hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, adjourned from Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said: “We are pleased with the decision of the judge and we plan to execute the warrant shortly. This is just one part of a larger investigation into the use of personal data and analytics for political purposes.
“As you will expect, we will now need to collect, assess and consider the evidence before coming to any conclusions.”
The focus of the data watchdog’s investigation includes the acquisition and use of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica, its parent company SCL and Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, the academic who developed the app used to gather the data.
The growing scandal stems from claims over the harvesting of personal data and whether it was used to affect the outcome of Donald Trump’s US presidential campaign and the EU referendum.
Less than an hour after the warrant was granted, a group of 18 people, some wearing ICO enforcement jackets, entered the building from New Oxford Street, led by a woman holding a piece of paper which appeared to be a warrant.
The enforcement officers were seen on the second floor – where Cambridge Analytica is thought to have its offices.
It is understood they are searching for correspondence and communications between SCL and GSR, as well as data obtained from Facebook via Kogan.
News of the raid came as the acting CEO of Cambridge Analytica, Dr. Alexander Tayler, appointed after the suspension of Alexander Nix, issued an apology about the way some data had been collected by an affiliate company.
Original text from The Guardian
