Parliament to question Cambridge Analytica chief as part of 'fake news' inquiry

Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) is questioning Alexander Nix, CEO of Cambridge Analytica on 27 February as part of parliamentary enquiry into fake news to investigate if the public has been manipulated and been fed untruths.

The House of Commons launched an inquiry into "fake news" in January 2017, following allegations that the public had been fed lies during the 2016 US election campaign via social media, raising concerns about the impact it may have had on the democratic process.

The DCMS committee is investigating these issues, as well as looking into the sources of fake news, what motivates people to spread it, and how it has been used around elections.

Cambridge Analytica combines data mining and analysis to 'serve' tailored communications to voters during elections.

The committee will question Mr Nix about the way data can be used to target people and the workings of data-driven communications and marketing. They will also look into how such targeting can set-off a ripple effect on social media, thus reaching many users almost immediately.

It is not the first time that the company has been questioned on the topic of "fake news" and election data, with US Special Counsel Robert Mueller having requested internal documents as part of his investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 elections.

The company was hired by the Trump campaign in June 2016 to run his data operations. There were 40-50,000 variants of pro-Trump ads coming out on social media everyday, with those that were liked and shared the most later reproduced.

Cambridge Analytica used the information gathered to develop a more sophisticated psychological profile of internet users, shaping the Trump campaign around it.

The firm was also put under the microscope in the UK last year after suggestions that it had influenced the Brexit referendum vote.

Writing in an article in February 2017, Nix boasted he had "helped supercharge Leave. EU’s social media campaign by ensuring the right messages are getting to the right voters online."

Indeed, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was so impressed with Cambridge Analytica that he reportedly became a shareholder.