[Published: Tuesday March 20 2018]
 Warrant sought to inspect London firm Cambridge Analytica
LONDON 20 Mar (ANA) - The UK's Information Commissioner is to apply to court for a warrant to search the offices of London-based political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica.
The company is accused of using the personal data of 50 million Facebook members to influence the US presidential election in 2016. Its executives have also been filmed by Channel 4 News suggesting it could use honey traps and potentially bribery to discredit politicians. The company denies any wrongdoing.
On Monday, Channel 4 News broadcast hidden camera footage in which Cambridge Analytica chief executive Alexander Nix appears to suggest tactics his company could use to discredit politicians online.
In the footage, asked what "deep digging" could be done, Mr Nix told an undercover reporter: "Oh, we do a lot more than that." He suggested one way to target an individual was to "offer them a deal that's too good to be true and make sure that's video recorded".
He also said he could "send some girls around to the candidate's house..." adding that Ukrainian girls "are very beautiful, I find that works very well". Mr Nix continued: "I'm just giving you examples of what can be done and what has been done."
Channel 4 News said its reporter had posed as a fixer for a wealthy client hoping to get a political candidate elected in Sri Lanka. However, Cambridge Analytica said the report had "grossly misrepresented" the conversations caught on camera.
"In playing along with this line of conversation, and partly to spare our 'client' from embarrassment, we entertained a series of ludicrous hypothetical scenarios," the company said in a statement. "Cambridge Analytica does not condone or engage in entrapment, bribes or so-called 'honeytraps'," it said.(ANA)
FA/ANA/20 March 2018--------
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