Since Cambridge Analytica’s political conspiracy rumors were confirmed by an undercover news network in UK, more revelations have continued to emerge – including affirmations that the company was paid by a ‘Nigerian Billionaire’ to skew the election in former Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan’s favor via social media propaganda against the current president.
The company denies all illegal accusations, but something we can be sure of is that its executives were behind some of the most recent political shocks: Brexit, and the election of Donald Trump. Though they are on opposite sides of the Atlantic, the tactics used for political propaganda in their favor was the same: cherry-picked data; accusations that your opponents were crooks, the spread of false news and data and the social media algorithms helped the spread of this information to the ‘right people’.
Anyone who has followed the climate change news and debates against it may recognize some of these tactics. Climate change denies, for years, have used the same false news and accusations to steer the opinions of climate change skeptics and the general public in their favor. And anyone who has followed the news over a few years would recognize that these two Donald Trump and the Brexit administration have been at the forefront of climate denial, along with capitalists with vested interest in fossil fuels. Well it so happens that Cambridge Analytica was not only behind their political propaganda, they have also fueled the spread of climate denial news connected with these two administrations. This map published by LittleSis shows how Cambridge Analytica lies at the heart of a network of operatives pushing climate science denial in the name of Brexit and Trump:
One of the co-founders of Cambridge Analytica, Steve Bannon has been the figurehead of alt-right propaganda machine, Breitbart News. Both the news network and Bannon are well known for their climate science denial. And linked to the Breitbart is UK climate science denier, James Delingpole, whom Bannon hired as a a Breitbart editor. Also linked to the network is climate change denial and anti-Clinton propaganda funder Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer invested over $5 million in Cambridge Analytica. The Mercers are also linked to other major funders of climate science denial including the Koch brothers. In 2014, Robert Mercer made a $2.5 million contribution into the Koch’s Freedom Partners Action Fund.
See more on DeSmog UK’s map of a transatlantic network politicians and lobbyists pushing for Trump and Brexit.