The Congress was caught red-handed colluding with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook for using data before elections and is now falsely accusing the BJP of doing the same, said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday slamming Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi.
Prasad's statement came an hour after Gandhi had accused BJP and RSS of controlling Facebook and Whatsapp in India and using it to "spread fake news and hatred through it and use it to influence the electorate." Gandhi had also shared a report, published in an American daily, in his tweet in support of his claims.
Reacting to this, Prasad said, "Losers who cannot influence people even in their own party keep cribbing that the entire world is controlled by the BJP and RSS. You were caught red-handed in alliance with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook to weaponise data before the elections and now have the gall to question us?"
"The fact is that today access to information and freedom of expression has been democratised. It is no longer controlled by retainers of your family and that is why it hurts. By the way, haven't yet heard your condemnation of the Bangalore riots. Where did your courage disappear?" Prasad added in a subsequent tweet.
Earlier in 2018, Prasad while addressing the Rajya Sabha in July 2018 had said, that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will investigate whether the British company Cambridge Analytica violated laws to mpulate the electoral process during the 2014 general elections.
In this case, data from the nation's electorates and Facebook users was allegedly compromised by London-based political consultant Cambridge Analytica.
( With inputs from ANI )