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Alexander Nix: Suspended Cambridge Analytica boss faces official summons after refusing to appear before MPs

'There is no legal reason why Mr Nix cannot appear. The committee is minded to issue a formal summons'

Deputy Political Editor

Tuesday 17 April 2018 16:58 BST

Alexander Nix giving evidence to the committee in February – after which he was accused of making 'false statements' (AFP/Getty Images)

The suspended boss of Cambridge Analytica is facing an official summons after refusing to appear before a committee of MPs investigating the Facebook data breach scandal.

The committee’s chair reacted angrily after Alexander Nix claimed an investigation by the information commissioner meant the controversy was sub judice.

Damian Collins said: “We have taken advice and he is not charged with any criminal offence and there are no active legal proceedings.

“There is therefore no legal reason why Mr Nix cannot appear. The committee is minded to issue a formal summons for him to appear on a named day in the very near future.”

The refusal came as the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into the scandal was told that the misuse of voters’ personal data was “rife” during the Brexit campaign.

A former Cambridge Analytica employee alleged that the group Leave.EU may have also used data from the insurance businesses run by its funder Arron Banks, to target potential Brexit supporters.

Facebook data row: What is Cambridge Analytica?

It may also have broken electoral law because work was done by Cambridge Analytica that was not paid for and because data from UK citizens appeared to have been processed abroad, Brittany Kaiser said.

In written evidence, Ms Kaiser, Cambridge Analytica’s former director of programme development, said: “I now think that there is reason to believe that misuse of data was rife amongst the businesses and campaigns of Arron Banks.

“If the personal data of UK citizens who just wanted to buy car insurance was used by GoSkippy and Eldon Insurance for political purposes, as may have been the case, people clearly did not opt in for their data to be used in this way by Leave.EU.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU

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A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that “Brexit means Brexit” and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UK’s economic outlook become clearer.

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“I have similar concerns about whether Ukip members consented to the use of their data.”

Mr Nix was asked to make a second appearance before the fake news inquiry after telling it, in February, that Cambridge Analytica did not have or use Facebook data.

It was then revealed that the personal information of at least 87 million people was harvested from Facebook by a company with a deal to share it with the London-based communications firm.

Mr Collins demanded Mr Nix, who was suspended from his role as chief executive, return to be quizzed on “a number of inconsistencies in your evidence to us”.

He warned that “giving false statements to a select committee is a very serious matter” and urged Mr Nix to “explain” his comments.

The information commissioner said: “We have written to Mr Nix to invite him to be interviewed by our investigators. Our investigation is looking at whether criminal and civil offences have been committed under the Data Protection Act.”

In her evidence, Ms Kaiser said she believed the number of people whose data was harvested from Facebook was “much greater” than the 87 million acknowledged.

And she claimed Cambridge Analytica, which she left in 2012, had created several of its own Facebook quizzes designed to harvest data from individuals.

They included a “sex compass” quiz, which would tell Facebook users what their “personal preferences” were, and a “music personality” quiz.

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