Enforcement officers working for the Information Commissioner have entered the premises of Cambridge Analytica in central London, after a High Court judge granted a search warrant.
The 18 officers went in on Friday evening after the judge granted the warrant following hours of legal argument and delays.
At 8pm, less than an hour after the warrant was granted by Judge Leonard QC, the group of officers, some wearing ICO enforcement jackets, were led by a woman holding a piece of paper which appeared to be a warrant.
They went up a side set of stairs at the building in New Oxford Street, London, and were seen on the second floor – where Cambridge Analytica has its offices.
The commissioner Elizabeth Denham first sought the warrant on Monday morning, as the firm was accused of harvesting millions of Facebook users’ data.
The sight of crates being removed from the Cambridge Anaylitica’s offices, all while the ICO’s warrant application was pending, prompted anger.
Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow said the delay “beggars belief” earlier this week.
Both Cambridge Analytica and Facebook deny any wrongdoing.
Sitting at the High Court, Judge Leonard said he would give his reasons for granting the warrant application on Tuesday.
The Information Commissioner’s Office spokesman said. “The warrant to inspect the premises of Cambridge Analytica was executed at 20.00 on 23 March 2018. Our investigators left the premises at about 03.00
“We will now need to assess and consider the evidence before deciding the next steps and coming to any conclusions.
“This is one part of a larger investigation by the ICO into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors.”
Cambridge Analytica had said it is willing to cooperate with the ICO in its investigation.