After a preliminary enquiry of the alleged data theft by UK-Based Cambridge Analytica and Global Science Research Ltd, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked the firm.
The CBI filed the case against the company for illegally harvesting data of Facebook users in India for commercial purposes, officials said on Friday.
The enquiry into the matter showed that Global Science Research had created an app "thisisyourdigitallife" which was authorised by Facebook to collect specific datasets of its users for research and academic purposes in 2014, they said.
The company then entered into a criminal conspiracy with Cambridge Analytica, allowing it to use the data harvested by it for commercial purposes, the officials said.
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Facebook had collected certificates from both the firms in 2016-17 that data collected by them using "thisisyourdigitallife" was accounted for and destroyed. However, the CBI enquiry did not find any evidence of any such destruction, according to the officials.
"The enquiry prima facie established that Global Science Research Ltd, UK dishonestly and fraudulently accessed data of app users of "thisisyourdigitallife" and their Facebook friends," an official said, citing the FIR.
(With PTI inputs.)
