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CBI seeks more info in FB, CA data theft case

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has initiated the second round of information seeking process in the Cambridge Analytica (CA) and Facebook data-theft case, sources here said on Wednesday.

The process was started after some of the companies involved in the case had responded to the first round of queries, an official who wished to be anonymous told Millennium Post.

Country's premier investigating agency had first written to the CA, Facebook, and Global Science Research (GSR) in September last year seeking information regarding the case. The US-based data mining and analysis firm was accused of illegally mining Facebook data of 8.7 crore people around the world, including that of 50 lakh Indian from GSR.

The agency had initially started this information seeking process in order to check if data of Indians was harvested and misused, following which a preliminary enquiry (PE) was initiated against both CA and GSR. The PE was registered under advisement from the IT Ministry.

A PE is the first step in assessing whether any allegations require a full-blown investigation through the registration of an FIR.

Addressing the Rajya Sabha last July, Union Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that while Facebook has claimed unaware of the misuse of any information, including that of Indian users; there are reports that hardware manufacturers who have tie-ups with the social media giant might have illegally accessed user data.

Cambridge Analytica earlier faced allegations that personal information mined from Facebook data breach had been used to influence the 2016 presidential elections, that resulted in Donald Trump assuming the Oval Office. The firm shut down its operation in May last year after reports of these allegations surfaced.

Sources added that CBI is waiting for a response to the second round of queries and will act accordingly.

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