Dangerous data

The recent revelations of the Cambridge Analytica files have brought out the troubling relationship between politics and social media in our world today. In what has become a global scandal, outrage erupted all over the internet as two whistleblowers revealed how Facebook had mined and sold the data of 50 million Americans to a political consultancy. A similar story emerged in the UK, where Facebook data had reportedly been used by pro-Brexit campaigners to tilt the narrow vote. The consequences for Facebook have been immediate, with the stock exchange value of Facebook plummeting as the hashtag “DeleteFacebook” started trending on social media. After five days of silence on the issue, Mark Zuckerberg finally admitted that his company had made certain ‘mistakes’ that violated the trust and privacy of Facebook users, and announced that policy changes were already being made to rectify the situation. This is surely not enough. Facebook has deeply compromised the democratic process based on users’ naïve trust of its designs. In both the US and UK, there are calls for the Facebook CEO to testify before the Congress and UK parliament respectively.

This is not an issue that Marc Zuckerberg will be able to smile and walk away from that easily. Official investigations in the US and UK have been initiated against the company’s role in manipulating election results. In both cases, direct links can be drawn between key figures such as a key Trump advisor who sat on Cambridge Analytica’s board, and AggregateIQ and the official Vote Leave campaign in the UK. While some around the world may say that such ‘interventions’ are less insidious that the ones that have destroyed democracies in the developed world (who can forget the dozens of CIA-orchestrated coups against democratically elected governments all over the world?), the fact is that the digital age is compromising our security and privacy as individuals in ways never experienced before. Even the most notorious intelligence agencies in the world have never been able to amass so much data on individuals. This data is now in the hands of private corporations that are ready to sell it to the highest bidder. The personal data, conversations and private information of millions of ordinary citizens has become a new weapon in the hands of conservative political forces. Whistleblowers like Snowden, Assange and the two ex-employees of Cambridge Analytica behind the current leaks will continue to draw our attention to the loopholes in digital laws that allow companies inappropriate access to personal information. However, until governments and the public come together to enforce strict regulation on what data companies can and cannot share with third parties, the institution of democracy will continue to be threatened in our digital age.