Just after midnight on January 1, 2020, a Twitter account named @hindsightfiles, believed to be run by Brittany Kaiser, who used to work at Cambridge Analytica, leaked some confidential papers showing how the British company SCL Group got involved in many elections worldwide before it shut down.
These documents didn’t get much attention because “World War III” was trending everywhere on social media. But when you look closely at these files alongside other events happening around the same time, it’s clear that foreign meddling in politics and elections has reached a whole new level.
Kaiser had been part of several projects but later chose to expose what her old employer was up to. Some details about Kenya in those leaks were already public, especially since their website is now gone.
For instance, the documents say that back in 2012 they ran an enormous political survey covering 47,000 homes all over Kenya. After that, they basically built a political party and created a communication plan based on what they found.
When the 2017 election came around, Cambridge Analytica suggested doing something similar but mixed traditional methods with digital ones to help Uhuru Kenyatta win under his new Jubilee party. Kenyatta did end up winning again, but news about this company’s shady methods only made people doubt the fairness of that election more.
For decades now, people who want good governance have put their faith in free and fair elections as the foundation for progress. But with firms like Cambridge Analytica secretly helping rich political groups tip the scales behind closed doors, fair elections seem harder to come by-and democracy feels fragile.
Looking specifically at Kenya, these leaks show just how easily an inexperienced British company got into top political circles and landed huge contracts simply by offering pretty basic social research.
The Kenyan president is probably the most famous name mentioned; his identity was even used to draw others in-like emails sent out trying to get former Sierra Leone President Ernest Koroma’s team interested.
You can also see from some sloppy emails how little respect they had for African clients. For example, when reaching out to John Sisay (Koroma’s cousin), SCL CEO Mark Turnbull forwarded an email without changing text colors-so parts of the message were two different colors!
A big reveal from these leaks is proof of what both Cambridge Analytica and its parent company always denied-that they really were involved in the UK’s Brexit campaign. In one email dated September 23, 2016, Turnbull writes: “Our recent track record includes advising the Brexit campaign which saw the UK vote to leave the EU …”
Whether that’s true or not (they’ve always denied it loudly), it shows there was definitely dishonesty going on inside this firm. So what else might they be hiding? If official records are this shady imagine what’s buried deeper? It highlights just how messed up ethics around elections really are-way worse than most voters think.
The leaks also show that since 2012 Kenya’s Jubilee party has spent serious cash on this one firm. Between December 2015 and April 2016 alone they paid SCL $1.25 million out of a $1.3 million deal. Their first draft budget for running things during the 2017 election was almost $4 million but reports say final costs hit close to $6 million.
Elections nowadays are huge money games all over-and mostly favoring whoever has deep pockets-not necessarily those best suited or honest enough for leadership roles. More than anything else though: voting can no longer guarantee politicians will put society’s needs above their own ambitions.
Also interestingly enough-in Christopher Wylie’s book about Cambridge Analytica-he mentions an unnamed African country that shifted funds away from its health ministry just so it could pay for their services too.
The Kenyan election in 2017 had a budget rumored near $500 million for about 19 million voters-that’s more than $25 per person-which some say made it one of world’s priciest elections per voter ever! But after spending all that cash on complex strategies did it really help? Well no-it stirred even more political chaos like we saw there.
The part everyone talks about most with Cambridge Analytica is their secretive digital tactics-the psychometric stuff where they use online tools combined with surveys to build detailed profiles aimed at influencing voters through targeted messaging campaigns.
One draft from Kenya pitching these digital plans actually left seven Xs “XXXXXXX” under where more info should have gone-as if whoever wrote it wasn’t fully sure how exactly this tech would fit into their overall strategy yet understood it mattered deeply anyway. Wylie and others who’ve exposed them suggest these digital tricks cover a range of sneaky practices-and elsewhere they’ve clearly crossed lines legally or ethically too.
Take Trinidad and Tobago for example; Wylie says its government handed over massive amounts of sensitive data-including locations and IP addresses-to help craft ruling party campaigns there. He says from his London computer he could log into private machines back on the island and see exactly what individuals were browsing online!
Nothing illegal jumps out directly from Kenya docs-but lots looks unethical-like collecting wide-ranging personal info through foreign hands while local authorities barely monitored any of this stuff at all. Kenya may have avoided worse problems thanks partly because many people still aren’t online-a population about four times bigger than active Facebook users (which total around ten million). But as I explain in my book Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics those numbers keep climbing fast every year now.
If you looked only at these papers you might dismiss them as another bunch of clueless Brits stuck thinking white folks know better than everyone else in postcolonial places just looking for easy money. Sure , their condescending attitude toward people of color shown behind closed doors plus obvious arrogance fits Frantz Fanon ’ s idea called “collapse of ego” described in Black Skin , White Masks -where “the black man stops behaving like an actional person.. since only the Other can enhance his status and give him self-esteem.”
But when you put these revelations next to everything going on politically inside Kenya , it’s way clearer why global elections face real threats ahead. The ruling party controls media tightly plus important institutions like electoral commission -and mix those powers with sketchy outside influence , well , entire election systems start looking shaky. What matters most is seeing how all these things worked together within local politics leading finally toward harming democratic integrity across Kenya.
It ’ s basically impossible competing fairly against a survey covering tens of thousands households paired with forcing major media outlets nationwide repeating your messages constantly -plus your ability pushing favored candidates past official rules like when Nairobi ‘s governor hopeful got approved despite possible prison escape history disqualifying him constitutionally.
A foreign business gathering so much unchecked personal data must also be weighed considering there weren ’ t solid privacy laws protecting collected info then -meaning survey results became owned by private companies based overseas instead !
You gotta think about harm done broadly too when millions flow offshore instead pouring back into social programs -it guts accountability totally making mockery outta any claims setting up fair fights.
Facebook ’ s head guy for augmented reality Alan Bosworth said Cambridge Analytica sold “snake oil,” routinely exaggerating how well psychometrics could shift voter opinions. Maybe he ’ s right thinking individual opinions weren ’ t moved much , but Kenyan data shows he missed bigger point entirely.
The mysterious “XXXXXXX” digital tricks don ’ t work apart from rest of CA ’ s efforts either , nor should Facebook ‘s role here be seen alone either. We entered corporate-run elections era where polling ain’ t peak democratic activity anymore -instead another business vulnerable domestic / international meddling purely chasing profits.
The future safety of our elections hangs here –and this leak just scratches surface revealing troubling trends ahead.
All views stated here belong solely to author , not necessarily reflecting Al Jazeera editorial line.
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