Since it is now revealed how far the ICT Company and Campaign Monitor Company Cambridge Analytica went in the United States, where they analyzed and took information, collected and made sure to target the public, because of the information from 50 million United States Citizens. It is interesting because the connection the same company had in Kenya. They we’re hired and worked for the President. They worked for President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. They we’re connected with the ruling pary Jubilee and also with the Electoral Commission. This being the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
There been found that the Cambridge Analytica was in-charge of IEBC Web-pages, who knows what sort of information the company has stalled through the registers and the gist of public details. If they have collected similar information on Kenyan citizens in the same ways as in United States. They have already done it one place the years before in 2015 and 2016, why not do the same in Kenya in 2017. That would be plausible.
“Our data came from the myPersonality Facebook application which I ran from 2007 until it ceased data collection in 2012. Users consented to their data being used in research and then completed a Big Five personality questionnaire which gave them feedback on their results. Over the five years of its operation the app collected data from approximately 6 million users. We examined Facebook Likes from a subset of approximately 60,000 American users” (Stillwill, 2018).
So with the knowledge of the extended survey and collection of data in concerning of the American Election, I am sure the same company has done similar efforts in Kenya. To get the right views and make sure they are on the measures they needed to be. If not, why where you working for Kenyatta and serving his party with information. Just like they did for the Trump Campaign so they could target areas and come with the sort of ads and click-bait stories to catch the people in doubt. This is why the company was hired in the first place, to make sure the political campaign hit the home-run in battle states in the United States. You can wonder what the same company planned, what sort of collection of data and how many of the Kenyan citizen’s on Facebook, which has been collected from. Since that is not known, also what sort of play and what information they got by having the IEBC Web-Page on their server.
“There are many different potential sources for the additional information that could have been used. It is plausible that Cambridge Analytica Ltd also have a psychographic model of Prof. Carroll and Prof. Golumbia, given that they claim to use psychographics in their political advertising. Alternatively, Cambridge Analytica Ltd may have based its predictions on any number of alternative data points, such as whether Prof. Carroll and Prof. Golumbia are a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), are known to have purchased a gun, etc” (Stillwill, 2018).
So it is hard know what they used the collected data in the 2016 Elections in the United States, but that they had it and target it to the public is fairly obvious. Therefore, to expect the same in the run-offs in the 2017 in Kenya, seems likely too. If not they wouldn’t been billing the state and the ruling party. They wouldn’t have been working and making adverts, and also campaigns for the President. That is clearly and also understandable. We can just wonder what sort of details the company has on the citizens of Kenya and what they used it for. What they got from the IEBC before they used the servers. There are many open venues, but non is disclosed. This should be investigated, as the privacy and the rights of the citizens are taken for granted. Which is never right. There are already FinTech companies who has to much information on Kenyan citizens. This comes in the same regard. Peace.
Reference:
Stillwill, Dr. David John – ‘Subject Matter: Section 7 DPA request (“Subject Access Request”) sent by Prof. Carroll to Cambridge Analytica Ltd, whose parent company is SCL Elections Ltd, on 17th February 2017’ (16.03.2018)
MinBane 