PMO: Federal Government has never engaged Cambridge Analytica

PETALING JAYA: The Government has clarified that it never engaged big data outfit Cambridge Analytica and its parent company SCL Group in any way.

A statement by the Prime Minister's Office said that contrary to media reports, neither Cambridge Analytica nor its parent company SCL Group has ever – now or in the past – been contracted, employed or paid in any way by Barisan Nasional, the Prime Minister's Office or any part of the Government of Malaysia.

"However, the SCL Group country representative today confirmed to the Government that Cambridge Analytica's advice on the 2013 general election was provided personally to (Datuk Seri) Mukhriz Mahathir, PPBM deputy president.

"The SCL representative also confirmed that he reported directly to Mukhriz Mahathir, not Barisan or the Government," said the statement on Tuesday.

On its website, Cambridge Analytica stated in its Malaysia case study that it supported Barisan Nasional in Kedah with a targeted messaging campaign highlighting their school improvements since 2008, which resulted in the coalition wresting Kedah back from Pakatan Rakyat.

"With wins in 21 out of 36 state seats and 10 out of the 15 parliamentary seats in the state, BN enjoyed a landslide victory," it said.

Cambridge Analytica is a London-based political consulting firm which has been accused of extracting the personal data of up to 50 million Facebook users without consent to help Donald Trump in his US presidential campaign in 2016.