One of the world’s most respected polling companies has been accused of trying to influence a controversial independence referendum in Iraq last year.
According to evidence provided by whistleblowers to the paper, YouGov created videos for a Facebook page targeting voters in the disputed oil-rich region of Kirkuk, playing on fears about security, criticising the Iraqi military and praising the Kurdish armed forces, known as the Peshmerga.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
An example of “astroturfing”, when a PR campaign is presented as being disconnected from the organisation funding it, it comes in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal in which voters were targeted with Facebook content in an effort to influence opinions ahead of elections.
The revelations will raise further questions about the impartiality and influence of polling firms, who have recently come under fire from UK MPs for selling poll results to hedge funds ahead of the Brexit referendum, potentially allowing the firms to make million betting against the pound.
Stefan Kaszubowski, global head of custom research at YouGov, denied any wrongdoing and defended the firm’s “high level of accuracy and objectivity in polling and consultancy”.
Nonetheless, YouGov’s work on the Kurdish campaign for independence also “raises questions” for Nadhim Zahawi, one of the company’s founders and the current parliamentary under secretary of state for children and families, says the Telegraph.
At the time YouGov was working on the Kurdish independence campaign, the MP for Stratford-upon-Avon still owned shares in the polling firm. He also received a a monthly salary of almost £30,000 from Gulf Keystone Petroleum, an oil and gas company that is focused on the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
-
Buddhist monks’ US walk for peaceUnder the Radar Crowds have turned out on the roads from California to Washington and ‘millions are finding hope in their journey’
-
American universities are losing ground to their foreign counterpartsThe Explainer While Harvard is still near the top, other colleges have slipped
-
How to navigate dating apps to find ‘the one’The Week Recommends Put an end to endless swiping and make real romantic connections
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Syria’s Kurds: abandoned by their US allyTalking Point Ahmed al-Sharaa’s lightning offensive against Syrian Kurdistan belies his promise to respect the country’s ethnic minorities
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
