By now, lots of us have heard at least part of the story of the Facebook election scandal. Cambridge Analytica, the company in the eye of the storm, has closed its doors and is under investigation. But how effective were its methods? Can ‘psychographic microtargeting’ really swing elections and referendums? And is it already driving a wedge in our politics?
Guests

Chris Sumner, research director of the Online Privacy Foundation
Martin Moore, director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King's College London

Links

'Who's zoomin' who?' – Ian's short piece on Cambridge Analytica, March 2018
Wikipedia: Big Five personality traits and OCEAN
Amazon: The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
Vox: A massive new study reviews the evidence on whether campaigning works. The answer's bleak.
YouTube: Rage Against the Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine - Chris Sumner's talk on the Online Privacy Foundation's psychographic microtargeting research, at the DEF CON hacker conference, October 2017
Wikipedia: Social proof
Martin Moore's blog
Martin's forthcoming book: Democracy Hacked: Political Turmoil and Information Warfare in the Digital Age
Fisher, M., & Keil, F. (2014). The Illusion of Argument Justification. Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Ian's newsletter, The Ruffian
Ian Leslie on Twitter
Matthew Taylor on Twitter


Produced by James Shield. Artwork design by Emily Power.
Brought to you by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).
www.theRSA.org

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