Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Alexander Nix asked MPs to consider 'what happens if I was the victim?'

The former chief of scandal-hit Cambridge Analytica has refused to answer questions about the full extent of its use of Facebook-sourced data.

Alexander Nix said that he could not do so while an inquiry by the Information Commissioner's office (ICO) was live.

He also accused the watchdog of "abusing his parliamentary privilege" by using details revealed at an earlier appearance as the basis to raid his firm's offices.

The BBC has contacted the ICO.

But it has yet to respond.

Cambridge Analytica announced it was closing in May.

It became the centre of a data-sharing row after it emerged the firm had acquired data from Global Science Research (GSR), which in turn had collected millions of Facebook users' personal details in breach of the social network's rules.

Cambridge Analytica denied any wrongdoing before its collapse and said the disputed Facebook data had been deleted in any case.

'Fruitless data'

Mr Nix said he stood by earlier testimony that GSR's Facebook data had proved "fruitless".

He also denied claims by an ex-employee, Christopher Wylie, that the information was the foundation of Cambridge Analytica's business.

Instead, Mr Nix said, the "cornerstone" had been voter registration information, lifestyle data and millions of other data points that it had acquired commercially.

Mr Nix first appeared before MPs in February as part of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee's investigation into fake news.

He was recalled to appear after chairman Damian Collins said there had been "serious inconsistencies" between the original testimony and evidence since received.

Unclear answers

Mr Nix admitted that he had misled the committee when he had previously stated that Cambridge Analytica had not used data supplied to it by GSR, a firm set up by the University of Cambridge's Dr Alexsandr Kogan.

Mr Nix was asked whether he had previously misled the committee about GSR.

"I accept some of my answers could have been clearer," he said.

He claimed that he had believed he had been asked whether Cambridge Analytica was currently using GSR's data rather than if it had ever done so.

Image copyright PA Image caption Alexander Nix told MPS that Cambridge Analytica was "not in the business of lying"

"At that stage we had deleted all of that data," he explained.

"But, on listening back to the transcript it was clear I was asked whether we had ever been supplied with that data and my answer should have been yes.

"At the time we had no reason to believe that it had been collected improperly."

'Deeply embarrassed'

Mr Nix blamed much of the controversy on whistle-blower Mr Wylie, whom he described as "bitter and jealous".

He said that Mr Wylie - who is in attendance - had been the "single source" for most of the accusations made against Cambridge Analytica.

The committee's chairman challenged this claim.

The company is now in administration and Mr Nix told MPs he had invested "millions of dollars" of his personal fortune in the last few months to pay the salaries and redundancies of staff.

He also said he was "deeply embarrassed" about an undercover Channel 4 News report in which he discussed questionable methods - including sending "Ukrainian girls" to a candidate's home - that might be used to gain clients.

Mr Nix said he had used "hyperbole", admitting his claims had a "significant impact" on the firm he ran.

But he claimed that the footage had been edited to misrepresent the context of his words, and that Cambridge Analytica would not have engaged in such tactics itself.

Channel 4 News has told the BBC that this was "wholly untrue".

In particular, it took issue with Mr Nix's assertion that it had misled viewers by editing out him saying: "Please don't pay too much attention to what I'm saying, they're just examples of what can be done."

"What Mr Nix actually said to our reporter and which was broadcast by Channel 4 News and watched by over three million people was that his caveat 'they're just examples of what can be done' was followed by 'and what has been done...'," it said.

"Further his comments about entrapment to our reporter were not solicited by our undercover reporter, and his comments about using 'Ukrainian girls' were made unprompted.

"The Channel 4 News footage also shows that the suggestions to entrap politicians with bribes and honeytraps were not solicited by our reporter but were both raised first by Mr Nix and Mr Turnbull."

Toothpaste

Mr Nix also denied that two election videos made for Nigeria and Kenya, which contained what he called "unethical media content", had anything to do with Cambridge Analytica.

"I know the media wants to see us as this nefarious multi-national that influences politics around the world but the truth is that we are a very small advertising agency that works across a series of sectors," he said.

He added that political work had made up just 25% of what his firm had done.

"Most of our time is spent selling toothpaste and automotives," he said.

Towards the end of the session, Mr Nix became emotional, accusing the committee of believing "conspiracy theories" and making "sweeping assumptions".

He said that he felt "victimised" by their questioning and the media furore that had engulfed him in the last few months.

And he claimed that his firm had been victim of an effort to force a second Brexit referendum by what he said were false claims that it had been involved in the first one.

Carole Cadwalladr - the journalist that worked on the Observer investigation that helped cause Cambridge Analytica's downfall - mocked this allegation on Twitter.</s>Alexander Nix, the former boss of Cambridge Analytica, has refused to answer some questions about the full extent of the use of Facebook-sourced data when he was recalled to appear before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

The committee is investigating fake news, but it has been expanded to include the data harvesting scandal that emerged this year when Facebook data of 87 million users was harvested without their explicit consent.

Nix for the first time admitted that this data had been obtained by GSR, a firm set up by the University of Cambridge’s Dr Alexsandr Kogan. Nix admitted he had originally misled the committee when he had previously stated that Cambridge Analytica had not used data supplied to it by GSR.

“Of course, the answer to this question should have been ‘yes,’” Nix was quoted as saying by Reuters, when asked if Cambridge Analytica still held data from the researcher.

“I accept some of my answers could have been clearer,” Nix was quoted by the BBC as saying. He said that he had believed he had been asked whether Cambridge Analytica was currently using GSR’s data, rather than if it had ever done so.

Alexander Nix was suspended as CEO by Cambridge Analytica in March with ‘immediate effect’ after he was caught on camera in a Channel Four sting operation, boasting of dirty tactics to discredit politicians online.

He said sorry for this undercover film, in which he claimed that Cambridge Analytica’s online campaign had played a decisive role in Trump’s election win. He admitted he had been foolish and had made exaggerated claims in order to attract what he thought was a potential client.

Nix also said that Channel 4 had heavily edited the footage to portray him in a worse light.

During his questioning, Nix also went on the attack a number of times and refused to answer questions about the full extent of its use of Facebook-sourced data.

Nix said that he could not answer those questions while an inquiry by the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) was ongoing. He also accused the data protection watchdog of “abusing his parliamentary privilege” by using details revealed at an earlier appearance as the basis to raid his firm’s offices.

Nix also said he felt vindicated in saying Cambridge Analytica had not been involved in the Brexit campaign by a report by the Electoral Commission.

Nix also said that whistleblower Christopher Wylie was allegedly not truthful about the consultancy’s involvement in Brexit.

He also said that Wylie allegation that the Facebook data was the foundation of Cambridge Analytica’s business was not true. Nix said that instead the “cornerstone” (of data) had been voter registration information, lifestyle data and millions of other data points that it had acquired commercially.

Last month Cambridge Analytica announced it was shutting down.

The firm said it and its parent company, SCL Elections, had begun insolvency proceedings in the UK and would immediately cease operations.

Quiz: Think you know all about Facebook?</s>The former boss of collapsed electoral consultancy Cambridge Analytica has accused MPs of "building a conspiracy theory" against his company following a far-reaching data scandal.

Former chief executive Alexander Nix admitted the company had received Facebook data, contradicting his previous testimony, which had been harvested by a researcher using a quiz app. "Of course, the answer to this question should have been 'yes,'" Mr Nix said.

Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data for targeted adverts during the US election, data that was gathered on 87 million Facebook profiles by a researcher.

However it has also been accused of working on the Brexit leave campaigns, which Mr Nix and Cambridge Analytica...</s>The former head of Cambridge Analytica has admitted his firm had received data from the researcher at the centre of a scandal over Facebook users' personal details, contradicting previous testimony to MPs.

Cambridge Analytica, which was hired by Donald Trump in 2016, has denied its work on the US president's successful election campaign made use of data allegedly improperly harvested from around 87 million Facebook users.

Former chief Alexander Nix, in earlier testimony to parliament's media committee, also denied the political consultancy had ever been given data by Aleksandr Kogan, the researcher linked to the scandal.

On Wednesday, he said it had received data from Kogan.

"Of course, the answer to this question should have been 'yes'," Nix said, adding that he thought he was being asked if Cambridge Analytica still held data from the researcher.

He denied deliberately misleading British MPs and said the company had deleted the data, which had been of no use.

The committee is investigating fake news, and focusing on the role of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook in the 2016 Brexit vote as well as the Trump election.

In lengthy, and often testy, questioning by MPs, Nix apologised for an undercover film in which he said Cambridge Analytica's online campaign played a decisive role in Trump's election win.

But he defended the now-defunct consultancy's reputation and said he felt victimised.

Cambridge Analytica said after the film was broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 television in March that the comments did not "represent the values or operations of the firm".

MPs asked Nix to return to face questions about inconsistencies in his evidence.

Kogan had told MPs he did give Cambridge Analytica the data.

Nix apologised for his comments in the film, saying he had been foolish and had made exaggerated claims in order to attract what he thought was a potential client.

Nix said that Channel 4 had heavily edited the footage to portray him in a worse light. "All Mr Nix's comments carried in our reports were used in context, including any caveats," the broadcaster said in a statement.

On other matters, Nix was less apologetic.

He said that he was vindicated in saying Cambridge Analytica had not been involved in the Brexit campaign by a report by the Electoral Commission, and that whistleblower Christopher Wylie had lied about the consultancy's involvement in Brexit.

Wylie had told the committee that Cambridge Analytica played a pivotal role in the campaign.

On Wednesday he told Channel 4: "I actually backed up everything I said with documents. I am quite comfortable standing by the statements that I made."

Nix denied a story in the Financial Times that he had withdrawn $US8 million from Cambridge Analytica before its collapse last month.

Asked about a Guardian report that a Cambridge Analytica employee visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2017, he said he had been unaware of the meeting.</s>Former Cambridge Analytica (CA) chief executive Alexander Nix claims the scandal-hit company did not access AIQ’s data containing personal information on Brits in the lead up to the EU referendum.

In an often brutal session of questioning by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS), Nix struggled to maintain his composure, engaging in heated exchanges with MPs.

Labour MP Julie Elliott asked Nix if he wanted to reconsider the answer he gave during his first round of questioning; that Cambridge Analytica has no links to Aggregate IQ, a Canadian agency known to have been involved in the EU referendum.

Nix claimed that the original question must have been lost in translation, or more pertinently a mix-up in the timing of that relationship with AIQ. He said CA does not work with AIQ, but did once, to build a digital platform called Ripon.

“We used AIQ as an independent company of software engineers to help us build a voter engagement platform [Ripon],” he told MPs.

“The vast majority of data that was used in this platform was a combination of voter registration data… and consumer and lifestyle data,” Nix added.

In a bizarre exchange, Labour’s Paul Farrelly asked Nix about CA’s relationship with UKIP. Here is the tense exchange between the pair:

Farrelly: “Do you know what use was made of the work you did for UKIP?”

Nix: “We never handed over any work to UKIP.”

Farrelly: “Do you know what use was made of the work you did for UKIP?”

Nix: “…no?”

Farrelly: “Do you know what use was made of the work you did for UKIP?”

Nix: “I’m afraid I don’t understand the question.”

During the hearing, Nix condemned Channel 4 News, which he said engaged in “dark arts” when their reporter secretly filmed Nix and Mark Turnball, a CA managing director. The news organization quickly released a response to Nix in which they denied his accusation of ‘entrapment.’

Nix then went on to insist that his company did not breach any personal data laws, saying: “Just because we work on their data, does not mean that we have a right to that data. And that was the relationship with AIQ.”

It follows a story in today’s Financial Times, reporting that Nix allegedly withdrew $8 million from the company prior to the corporation folding, according to the firm's investors.

Those close to the inner workings of CA claim that the withdrawal of huge finances came quickly after Nix learned about allegations of his company’s role in a seismic leak of Facebook user data in March 2018, which was reported in the British media.

Commenting today at a second round of questions for the DCMS inquiry into “fake news,” Nix told the assembled MPs that the FT’s story on his alleged withdrawal of $8 million from CA was false.

“The allegation is false, the facts are not correct,” Nix said. He went on to add that he had personally paid money into the company to ensure staff continued to be paid their salaries.

However, according to several company insiders, employees have been dismissed without severance payments after the collapse of CA last month, the FT reports. Despite this, it’s been reported that investors and employees have maintained that staff should receive redundancy payments.

Labour’s Farrelly pushed Nix on the issue of paying his own money into the company, asking him if he had received any of that money back. Nix replied: “I did not… at that time, none of us envisaged that this outcome would happen.”

Like this story? Share it with a friend!</s>LONDON (Reuters) - Cambridge Analytica did receive data from the researcher at the center of a scandal over Facebook data, the political consultancy’s former chief executive told British lawmakers on Wednesday, contradicting his previous testimony.

Cambridge Analytica has said its work on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign did not use data at the center of the Facebook scandal, where the details of around 87 million users were allegedly improperly obtained.

Former chief Alexander Nix in his previous testimony to lawmakers denied that Cambridge Analytica had ever been given data by Aleksandr Kogan, the researcher at the center of the scandal. However, on Wednesday he said that the consultancy had been given data by Kogan.

“Of course, the answer to this question should have been ‘yes,’ Nix said, adding that he thought he was being asked about whether Cambridge Analytica still held data from the researcher. He said the company had deleted the data.

“My focus was on whether we still held the data... There was certainly no intention to mislead the committee,” he added.</s>LONDON (Reuters) - Cambridge Analytica’s former chief denied deliberately misleading British lawmakers, even as he admitted that his firm did receive data from the researcher at the center of a scandal over Facebook data, contradicting his previous testimony.

Cambridge Analytica has said its work on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign did not use data at the center of the Facebook scandal, where the details of around 87 million users were allegedly improperly obtained.

Former chief Alexander Nix, in earlier testimony to a parliamentary committee, denied that Cambridge Analytica had ever been given data by Aleksandr Kogan, the researcher at the center of the scandal. However, on Wednesday he said that the consultancy had indeed been given data by Kogan.

“Of course, the answer to this question should have been ‘yes,’” Nix said, adding that he thought he was being asked about whether Cambridge Analytica still held data from the researcher. He said the company had deleted the data.

“My focus was on whether we still held the data... There was certainly no intention to mislead the committee,” he added.

The media committee is investigating fake news, and is increasingly focused on the role of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook in the 2016 Brexit vote and in the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Lawmakers on the committee asked Nix to return to testify again to ask him about inconsistencies in his evidence. Kogan told lawmakers he did give Cambridge Analytica the data.

Facebook says Kogan harvested the data by creating an app on the platform that was downloaded by 270,000 people, providing access not only to their own personal data but also data from their friends.

Facebook said Kogan then violated its policies by passing the data to Cambridge Analytica.

While admitting it had received the data, Nix said it was not useful to the company.

“The data that we received wasn’t fit for purpose,” Nix said. “It wasn’t the foundational dataset on which we built our company.”

Lawmakers also quizzed Nix about a secret recording of him saying that Cambridge Analytica’s online campaign played a decisive role in U.S. President Trump’s election victory, broadcast by Channel 4 television in March. Cambridge Analytica at the time said the comments did not “represent the values or operations of the firm.”

Nix apologized for his comments, saying he had been foolish and had made exaggerated claims in order to attract what he thought was a potential client.

“It’s not only deeply embarrassing, but it’s something I regret enormously,” he said.

Nix said that Channel 4 had heavily edited the footage to portray him in a worse light, which the TV channel denied.

“All Mr Nix’s comments carried in our reports were used in context, including any caveats,” Channel 4 said in a statement.</s>Alexander Nix, the former CEO of Cambridge Analytica. Reuters
• Former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix allegedly withdrew more than $8 million from the British data firm before its collapse last month.
• The Financial Times, citing sources, reported that Nix took the cash shortly after media reports of Cambridge Analytica's involvement in the Facebook data scandal.
• He is now in dispute with investors over returning the money, which was reportedly intended to help get successor data firm, Emerdata, off the ground.
• Nix is yet to respond to requests for comment, but will appear in front of British lawmakers on Wednesday.

The former CEO of Cambridge Analytica allegedly withdrew more than $8 million (£6 million) from the British data firm before its collapse last month.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Alexander Nix is in dispute with investors after he allegedly walked away with the cash, while Cambridge Analytica staff and investors salvaged little or nothing from the company's closure.

Specifically, the FT said, the dispute is with the investors in Emerdata, a potential successor company set up by the power players at Cambridge Analytica.

Emerdata reportedly raised $19 million from international investors in January, before Cambridge Analytica's role in harvesting the data of 87 million Facebook users became public knowledge.

This money ran out quickly, however, because of outstanding bills to advertisers and suppliers, and Nix's alleged withdrawal. Bankruptcy filings in New York show that Cambridge Analytica received an $8.8 million loan from Emerdata before it entered administration, according to the FT.

Business Insider has contacted Nix for comment. He has not commented on the allegations so far. People familiar with the matter told the FT that Nix's withdrawal came shortly after the data breach story exploded and was made in "exchange for unbooked services." He intends to repay part of the money, the FT said.

Nix could be asked about the alleged transaction on Wednesday when he appears before British lawmakers to answer questions about the Facebook data scandal. It is the second time he will give evidence to the powerful Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee after lawmakers fear he may have misled them during his first hearing.

Emerdata was incorporated in the UK last year by several Cambridge Analytica executives before the Facebook scandal thrust their activities into the spotlight.

Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer, daughters of hedge fund tycoon and prominent Trump supporter Robert Mercer, joined Emerdata as directors as the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit. Another notable director was Johnson Chun Shun Ko, an executive with close links to another Trump supporter, Erik Prince.

The timing of the appointments contributed to media speculation that Emerdata could succeed Cambridge Analytica, since it involved many of the same people and backers.

But Nigel Oakes, founder of Cambridge Analytica's parent company SCL, told Bloomberg in May that Emerdata had gone into administration. "The whole lot is gone," he said.</s>The former chief executive of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix was accused on Wednesday of taking $8 million from the company ahead of its collapse.

Investors backing a rebrand of the data consultancy firm are currently in a stand-off with Nix while trying to persuade him to return the money, according to the Financial Times.

Nix reportedly took the money shortly after British journalists began reporting on the company's involvement in the mishandling of Facebook users' personal data -- a scandal that resulted in Cambridge Analytica shuttering its doors at the beginning of May.

Nix is due to give evidence in UK Parliament for a second time on Wednesday, after politicians issued a formal summons. Nix did not immediately respond to request for comment.</s>Alexander Nix, the former chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, the now-shuttered political consultancy at the center of Facebook’s data-mining scandal, told a British parliamentary panel Wednesday that he and his company were “victims” of “ludicrous conspiracy theories” peddled by a jealous former employee and amplified by “global liberal media.”

Alternatively defiant, exasperated and testy, Nix said Cambridge Analytica’s targeted advertising and messaging work for Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign had put “a huge target on our back.”

Coupled with “unfounded” accusations that Cambridge Analytica was involved in the Brexit vote, “you have the makings of a perfect storm. You have someone people want to hate,” Nix said.

“If you’re sitting where I am right now, you’d probably feel quite victimized,” Nix told the House of Commons select committee, which had issued a summons for him to appear in its investigation of fake news.

The British lawmakers charged that Nix had purposefully and repeatedly misled them when he testified in February, before the Facebook scandal broke.

Cambridge Analytica, a small and once obscure consulting and advertising firm, became the subject of investigation and condemnation after it was revealed the company had improperly obtained the personal information of millions of Facebook users.

In early May, the company said it would cease operations and declare bankruptcy in the United States and Britain. But it defended its compiling of Facebook data, saying it was being “vilified for activities that are not only legal, but also widely accepted as a standard component of online advertising in both the political and commercial arenas.”

Nix was suspended by Cambridge Analytica’s board in March after he appeared in a sensational undercover investigation by the British broadcaster Channel 4, in which he boasted of the company’s prowess in running — and winning — dirty campaigns overseas and offering to entrap opponents by bribery, extortion and “honey traps” employing Ukrainian sex workers.

On Wednesday, Nix conceded that his portrayal of Cambridge Analytica’s alleged dark arts was “not my finest hour.” The Channel 4 video shows Nix trying to woo a potential “client,” who was in fact an undercover reporter.

Nix insisted that his pitch was all “hyperbole” and that his company never employed such tactics.

Responding to repeated questions about the Channel 4 exposé, Nix said, “You don’t need to sit there and sully my reputation; I’ve already done that, to a worldwide audience. . . . Yes, it was foolish of me, and it was a well-crafted entrapment, sting, whatever you want to call it. Channel 4 got their man.”

In addition to helping to run Trump’s campaign, Cambridge Analytica worked on a handful of elections a year in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Stephen K. Bannon served as vice president of the firm before going to work for Trump full time in 2016. Investors included conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer.

In his testimony, Nix denied that his company worked on the successful Brexit referendum for Britain to leave the European Union. However, a Canadian company with ties to Cambridge Analytica did do work for at least two pro-Brexit campaigns, according to Britain’s electoral commission.

Nix also denied that he had lied to the committee in February when he asserted “we do not work with Facebook data, and we do not have Facebook data.” Nix explained he meant the company was not at the time working with such data. “I accept that some of my answers could have been clearer, but I assure you that I didn’t intend to mislead you,” he said.

Nix blamed his troubles on an ex-employee turned whistleblower, Christopher Wylie, who served as a major source for stories in the Guardian, the New York Times and The Washington Post.

Nix kept returning to Wylie in his testimony. After working at the company for only 10 months, alongside academic Aleksandr Kogan, who initially mined the personal Facebook data, Wylie “went around America pitching his business,” Nix said. “My point is, you have an individual, claiming to be a whistleblower . . . who purports to be a protector of data sovereignty but who actually acquired a significantly larger data set than ours, and then went and tried to commercialize it in exactly the same way we did, and then spent the last two or three years getting bitter and jealous.”

Asked about a report in the Financial Times that Nix took $8 million out of the company before it collapsed, he at first called the article false and its facts wrong.

At the end of the day, Nix amended that assessment. “I only saw [the article] briefly before coming to the committee meeting and haven’t had a chance to consider it with my counsel,” he said.

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Alexander Nix, the head of Cambridge Analytica, faces questions from British MPs regarding the company's use of data.