Profile scoops 'inside story' from Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

Profile Books will publish Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie's debut, Mindf*ck: Inside Cambridge Analytica’s Plot to Break the World, next week. 

UK rights were acquired by Profile publisher Helen Conford and editorial director Ed Lake from Matilda Forbes Watson at William Morris Endeavor. The Bookseller understands the deal was struck in July and placed under a worldwide media embargo. 

Mindf*ck will be published on 8th October by Profile in the UK and Random House in the US. “For the first time, Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, tells the inside story of the data mining and psychological manipulation behind the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum, connecting Facebook, WikiLeaks, Russian intelligence, and international hackers,” Profile said. “Wylie’s decision to become a whistleblower prompted the largest data crime investigation in history. His story is both exposé and dire warning about a sudden problem born of very new and powerful capabilities. It has not only exposed the profound vulnerabilities and profound carelessness in the enormous companies that drive the attention economy, it has also exposed the profound vulnerabilities of democracy itself. What happened in 2016 was just a trial run. Ruthless actors are coming for your data, and they want to control what you think.”

Lake said: “I thought I knew the Cambridge Analytica story backwards but reading Mindf*ck felt like having the lights switched on. There aren’t many people who understand the new landscape of political control like Christopher Wylie, and perhaps none who are willing to go on the record. Mindf*ck is an astonishing journey through the underworlds of modern power, lit up with savage humour and guided by a steely sense of purpose. Amid talk of riots on the streets, this is the riot we need.”

Wylie is known for his role in setting up—and then taking down—Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm which combined data mining, data brokerage and data analysis with strategic communication during the electoral processes. His revelations exposing the misuse of data sent shockwaves across Silicon Valley and led to some of the largest multinational investigations into data crime ever. Born in British Columbia, Canada, he studied law at the London School of Economics before moving into cultural data science and fashion trend forecasting. He is now based in London.