The former director of research at Cambridge Analytica, the data-mining firm notoriously suspended by Facebook for harvesting details of up to 87 million Facebook accounts without their consent, has told Andrew Marr that the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU should be re-contested. Wylie’s suggestion comes after it was highlighted that Vote Leave – the official Leave campaign – had employed the services of AggregateIQ (AIQ), a company which Wylie claims to have founded in order to support Cambridge Analytica. AIQ was also suspended from Facebook on Saturday for improperly receiving users’ data, charges which AIQ denies. Wylie argued that Vote Leave’s connections to alleged misconduct by AIQ meant that it was not guaranteed that the result in 2016 was made fairly and legally:
AM: If the [Digital, Culture Media and Sport] select committee says ‘Chris Wylie is right… these connections are proved’, what follows from that? Are you really suggesting the referendum should be re-run somehow? We should forget 2016 and do it all over again?
CW: …I’m saying this as somebody who supported Leave.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in