During his time as a student, he had worked as a micro-targeting and digital campaign strategist for the Liberal Democrats in the UK. In 2013 he enrolled for a Ph.D. in predicting fashions trends at the University of the Arts London but subsequently dropped out when working for SCL Elections. He later completed a master’s degree in Political Management at George Washington University in Washington D.C.

Christopher Wylie as a Whistle-blower

In 2013, Wylie began working as a contractor for SCL Election, and its offshoot for American elections, an international consultancy specializing in data-driven psychographic targeting in elections.

Christopher Wylie worked as the former Director of Research for Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group, and as he puts it, the person who created “Steve Bannon’s psychological warfare mindfuck tool.” In 2018, he worked with The Guardian and the New York Times as a whistle-blower to expose that Cambridge Analytica had allegedly illegally obtained and exploited the data of 87 million Facebook users for the purposes of creating targeted political campaigns for the 2016 US presidential elections. Wylie mentioned, “Facebook is no longer just a company. It’s a doorway into the minds of the American people and Mark Zuckerberg left that door open for Cambridge Analytics, the Russians, and who knows how many others.”

On the 18th March 2018, While gave a series of detailed interviews to “The observer” with revelations about this time at SCL/Cambridge Analytics, presenting himself as a “whistle-blower”. He subsequently provided testimony and materials to a range of inquiries and legislatures around the world, and his revelations were instrumental in the May 2018 collapse of Cambridge Analytica.

His work evidence also exposed the deep links between the Alt-Right and Russian intelligence networks, leading to major ongoing FBI and NCA investigations in the US and UK. With his neon hair and brutally honest candor, Chris engages audiences around the world and makes AI understandable, disturbing – and yet somehow compelling. His mind-bending stories about the power of weaponized algorithms and information warfare have garnered audiences of over 15,000 people at some of the leading global events, including Web Summit, the Royal Institute for International Affairs (‘Chatham House’), the European Commission and Forbes 30 Under 30. When Chris speaks out about the future of technology, governments around the world take note – he has testified before the United States Congress five times, as well as at the parliaments of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada.