Report says Cambridge Analytical parent co may have helped Duterte win election

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte REY BANIQUET/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL), the parent company of Cambridge Analytica – the firm in hot waters for reportedly aiding the United States (US) President Donald Trump’s campaign – apparently helped the Philippine President win his post in 2016, according to a report.

In an article by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the SCL’s website cited the Philippines.

“In the run-up to national elections, the incumbent client was widely perceived as both kind and honourable, qualities his campaign team thought were potentially election-winning. But SCL’s research showed that many groups within the electorate were more likely to be swayed by qualities such as toughness and decisiveness,” the website content read.

“SCL used the crosscutting issue of crime to rebrand the client as a strong no-nonsense man of action, who would appeal to the true values of the voters,” it added.

SCL’s website no longer has the section, but archived versions of that web content can still be viewed online.

SCMP noted that while President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was not explicitly mentioned in the content, the rebranded image on crime, man of action, and toughness pertained to the former Davao mayor.

Cambridge Analytica is a British political consulting firm that analyses data to aid politicians in their electoral campaigns. It is in hot waters for reportedly buying information of Facebook users through their third-party applications and helping Trump’s campaign.

On April 4, Wednesday, Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer, Mike Schroepfer released a statement regarding Facebook’s plans and updates to restrict data access.

“Finally, starting on Monday, April 9, we’ll show people a link at the top of their News Feed so they can see what apps they use — and the information they have shared with those apps. People will also be able to remove apps that they no longer want. As part of this process we will also tell people if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica,” he said.

In a graph attached to his statement, the Philippines was listed as the second country next to the US to have its users’ information “improperly shared” with Cambridge Analytica.

Comprising 1.4% of the approximately 87 million people whose information were bought, 1,175,870 were from the Philippines.

This was not the first time for Duterte’s win to be linked to Facebook information.In December last year, a media report also cited that Facebook supposedly helped Duterte win his presidency through fake news and fake accounts. But the Palace dismissed this claim.

(Read: Palace dismisses report on FB helping Duterte win election)