Around the world, as elections become increasingly data-intensive, our personal data is becoming a political asset for campaigns to leverage in pursuit of electoral success and political power. This educational short film explains to voters some of the ways in which our personal data is being used and alludes to the larger democratic consequences of the 'datafication' of politics. What does the development of the 'Influence Industry' mean for our democracies, and what can we do about it?
Watch the animation in English or Dutch to learn more:
If you want to dive deeper into the topic, check out our Voter’s Guide, which explains in accessible terms where political campaigns source personal data, what kinds of data they collect, and how they use it to target and persuade voters. The guide demystifies campaigning techniques like ‘digital listening’, ‘micro-targeting’ and ‘A/B testing’, and offers voters 7 essential tips to detox their personal data. The Voter's Guide is also available in Dutch here!
Tactical Tech launches “The Influence Industry Explorer”, an online investigation tool that comprises evidence on 500 companies that work with political groups in over 30 countries to influence voters’ opinions.
The Glass Room presents Capsule 2.0, 'Nothing Personal?', our latest showcase of digital objects, both old and new. This second capsule explores how technologies are designed, branded and engineered to collect deeply personal data and influence our real-time behaviours.
Tactical Tech is looking for a committed and engaged individual to join our Data and Politics team as a Project Coordinator.
The final part of our Data & Politics series on Medium looks at campaign apps around the 2021 election in Uganda, in cooperation with The App Analyst.
How was a mobile phone shop in Vietnam able to access personal data from voters in Ghana? The third part of our Data & Politics series on Medium looks at campaign apps in the 2020 Ghanaian election.
Civil society organisers rely on personal data and data-driven tactics to support individuals and groups. Find out about the importance of a data policy in this latest article from our Data & Activism project.
The second in this series of articles on Medium from our Data & Politics project looks at how the 'appification' of nearly every aspect of our lives has spread to politics, elections and issue campaigning.
We are excited to announce the launch of our new report 'Personal Data and the Influence Industry in Nigerian Elections' in partnership with CDD West Africa, which highlights techniques and technologies used by political actors in recent campaigns in Nigeria.
Tactical Tech’s Data & Politics Team is excited to announce that the Swedish Postcode Foundation will support our latest initiative to create transparency on the use of personal data in political campaigns and the surrounding influence industry.
Our Data & Politics team has teamed up with The App Analyst to explore the personal data collected by election campaign apps. Read more on Medium - or nominate an app for analysis!
You may already know that airplanes, fast fashion and factory farming are harmful to the environment, but have you ever considered the carbon footprint of watching videos or sending emails? Find out more in a new chapter of the Data Detox Kit!
Together with partners from across the globe, Data & Politics' flagship report and guide 'Personal Data: Political Persuasion. Inside the Influence Industry' is now available in Arabic, Hausa, Khmer, Russian, Spanish and Ukrainian.
If Europe’s elections are to remain contests of campaigns’ political ideas and not of their digital strategies, the systemic challenges to democracy must not be overlooked by the fires of the present moment. Varoon Bashyakarla from our Data & Politics team writes for the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
In order to investigate the 'Influence Industry' in different contexts and countries, our Data & Politics project has partnered with a diverse range of organisations and individuals in the Global South. Find out more about the work these partners do.
