Politics

DUP and Sinn Féin clash over 'dark money' claims amid Cambridge Analytica row

DUP East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson
DUP East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson DUP East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson

THE DUP and Sinn Féin clashed yesterday by making opposing "dark money" allegations against each other as the global controversy grew over political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Sinn Féin asked the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to investigate the DUP's use of Cambridge Analytica-linked firm AggregrateIQ in last year's assembly election and its Brexit campaign for the EU referendum.

But the DUP hit back, accusing Sinn Féin of "hypocrisy" and raised questions about fundraising overseas for the party and events being held in Canada.

The DUP paid almost £33,000 during the EU referendum campaign to Canadian data analytics firm AggregrateIQ.

The company received more than £4.6m from Brexit campaign groups – more than any other company in the 2016 referendum.

It was also paid around £12,000 by the DUP as part of its Stormont election campaign last year.

AggregrateIQ is thought to have 'micro-targeted' voters with political advertising on social media using their personal data.

It has been linked to a similar firm, Cambridge Analytica, which is at the centre of an international controversy over its use of personal online data to influence elections.

The London-based firm, credited with helping Donald Trump win the 2016 US election, is accused of using the data of 50 million Facebook users to plant fake news and influence voting. The company denies any wrongdoing.

The concerns follow questions about the DUP's Brexit campaign being financed by the Constitutional Research Council (CRC) – a group of pro-union business figures chaired by a former vice chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party.

The Electoral Commission has recently been allowed to publish details of Northern Ireland political parties' donations for the first time, but the new legislation has not been backdated to cover the referendum.

The DUP has declined to explain what it paid AggregateIQ to do, but insisted its campaigns "meet all legal and regulatory conditions".

ICO is already examining the use of firms like AggregateIQ as part of an investigation into data analytics in political campaigning including the EU Referendum.

However, Sinn Féin's Francie Molloy yesterday said he had written to the ICO asking it to examine the DUP's links to AggregateIQ.

The Mid Ulster MP said the DUP "have a duty to tell us what they were buying with their money", and it raises "further questions about the DUP's approach to politics" following the "dark money Brexit donations".

Meanwhile, DUP East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson questioned Sinn Féin receiving overseas donations through Friends of Sinn Féin.

"Those who have been so exercised about political donations here have done nothing to close the loophole which allows huge amounts of foreign money to influence politics in Northern Ireland in a way that is banned in both the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the UK," he said.

"This is the real 'dark money' influencing politics in Northern Ireland on an ongoing basis. The public deserve to know how this money is used to influence politics here in Northern Ireland."

Asked about AggregateIQ, the DUP said its campaigns "meet all legal and regulatory conditions".

"Encouraging people to come out and vote for your party is what election campaigns exist to achieve," a spokesman said.

"We want to communicate our message as widely as possible, and this includes the use of social media."

He said it was "utter hypocrisy for Sinn Féin to criticise anyone on grounds of financial transparency".

A Sinn Féin spokesman dismissed the DUP's criticism as "yet more distraction politics", saying that any money raised in the US by Friends of Sinn Féin is registered with the US justice department.