wanted to do in the united states, manipulate public opinion. reporter: so bannon created scl s american arm, cambridge analytica, with $15 million from conservative donor robert mercer and his daughter, rebecca. wylie says using data gathered from a facebook app, cambridge analytica targeted specific groups of people to try to influence them and push them to the right. it wouldn t always look like a campaign ad or wouldn t always say i m candidate so and so and i approve this message. you re not necessarily aware what you re seeing is content created and targeted at to you make you perceive an issue differently. reporter: the company worked on the 2014 midterms, but amidst all the data analytics the questionable use of psychoanalysis, the micro targeting that the technology allowed, bannon s real goal was always much bigger than that according to wylie. he wanted to change people s
techniques as he can get away with. reporter: do you realize what you re saying? you re talking about warfare on the american citizenry. this is steve bannon and robert mercy using a foreign military contractor to use some of the same techniques that the militaries use to fight isis on the american electorate. that s what they wanted, and that s what they got. reporter: cambridge analytica is a subsidiary of the british sel group. for 25 years, the military contractor has worked with 60 countries including british and american governments, helping battle crime, drugs, terrorists. by changing the opinions of foreign populations. scl sales pitch was, look, we go into foreign countries and use tools, profiling to manipulate public opinion. ultimately that s what bannon wanted to do in the united states. he wanted to manipulate public opinion. reporter: so bannon created
contractor has worked with 60 countries including british and american governments helping battle crime, drugs, terrorists by changing the opinions of foreign populations. scl sales pitch essentially was look, we go into foreign countries and we use our tools, our psycho graphic profiling to manipulate public opinion. ultimately that is what bannon wanted to do in the united states, he wanted to manipulate public opinion. reporter: so bannon created scl s american arm, cambridge analytica, with $15 million from conservative donor robert mercer and his daughter rebecca. wiley says using psych gathered app, he tried to push them to the right. it wouldn t always look like an ad or same i m candidate and i approve this message. you re not aware that actually
propaganda inspired films, had run the conservative breitbart news. but in 2014, he was looking for yet another tool in his arsenal. and he found it by creating cambridge analytica. this was steve bannon s baby. reporter: this former employee says from his first meeting with bannon, it was clear the goal. not to push a single campaign or candidate, but to fundamentally change america. he sees this as warfare, so he is going to use as aggressive techniques as he can get away with. you are talking about warfare on the american citizenry. this is steve bannon and robert mercer using a foreign military contractor to use some of the same techniques that the militaries use to fight isis on the american electorate. that s what they wanted. and that s what they got. reporter: cambridge analytica is a subsidiary of the british scl group. for 25 years the military