"Cambridge Analytica quietly worked on fake news-fueled Kenyan election."

Article extract:

"Amid concerns about the rampant spread of “fake news”— and fearful memories of scores of deaths during the 2007 election— it was another seismic development in a fraught election. Last weekend, staffers at Aristotle, an American data firm working for the opposition party, were deported from the country after what a spokesperson described as an aggressive detention..."

"...Last weekend, a group of unidentified men in black hoodies arrived at the Nairobi apartment of John Aristotle Phillips, the American founder and CEO of data firm Aristotle, Inc., and detained him and Canadian Andreas Katsouris, the company’s senior vice-president, on charges they had violated visa laws.

The dozen or so armed men who detained them also stuffed Phillips in the back of a hatchback, drove him around for hours, and took their laptops and phones for a period of time, the company claims. One asked Phillips for his computer password, but he did not reveal it, and the company was able to protect all relevant data, according to Brandi Travis, a spokesperson for Aristotle. With the assistance of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, the devices were returned before the two men left the country..."

"...Aristotle was one of a handful of foreign entities working on polling analytics and data analytics during the campaigns: Cambridge Analytica, the widely discussed data firm that worked for the Trump campaign, was hired earlier this year [2017] to work on Kenyatta’s campaign."

Link: https://www.fastcompany.com/40450037/trumps-big-data-firm-worked-on-the-kenyan-election-amid-concerns-over-fake-news-and-hacking-allegations
Author: Alex Pasternack
Publication: Fast Company
Publication date: 08 November 2017