The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a case against UK-based Cambridge Analytica and Global Science Research Ltd. It alleged that they were involved in illegal harvesting of personal data of 5.62 lakh Indian Facebook users for commercial purposes.
The CBI's action came after a preliminary enquiry into the matter which showed that Global Science Research had created an app "thisisyourdigitallife" which was authorised by Facebook to collect specific datasets of its users for research and academic purposes in 2014, they said.
The company then entered into a criminal conspiracy with Cambridge Analytica, allowing it to use the data harvested by it for commercial purposes, the officials said.
Facebook had collected certificates from both the firms in 2016-17 that data collected by them using "thisisyourdigitallife" was accounted for and destroyed. However, the CBI enquiry did not find any evidence of any such destruction, according to the officials.
"The enquiry prima facie established that Global Science Research Ltd, UK dishonestly and fraudulently accessed data of app users of "thisisyourdigitallife" and their Facebook friends," an official said, citing the FIR.
The CBI has filed case under Sections 120(B) of IPC and 66B, 85 and 43 (a) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
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