Campaign Microtargeting: Democracy in the Age of Digital Surveillance

 Campaigns have always been about how they present themselves to the world but the Internet changed everything with micro-targeting as a form of psychological science. No longer will you see one big message put out for everyone, instead, you’ll see hyper-personalized advertising based upon your data profile. Examples of this include demographic data, search history, your physical location, purchasing behavior and even personality type that can be determined through an algorithm.

Cambridge Analytica exemplifies this paradigm shift. Millions of Facebook user profiles were scraped without their knowledge or permission and then Cambridge Analytica developed psychographic models to categorize them emotionally (vulnerable, fearful, aggressive etc.) and psychologically (e.g., risk-averse, or open) to develop messaging that would resonate with Trump supporters, reluctant moderate voters and disengage young voters.

In other words, this was not persuasion it was data driven behavior modification.

Unlike billboards or TV advertisements, these micro-targeted political messages appear within private feeds that are not available for external monitoring, fact-checking or public discussion. These private feeds represent what scholars refer to as "dark campaigning". The public space, which represents the area in which political ideologies are challenged, shrinks down to the level of individualized realities.

As well, the concept of a unified electorate has been diminished due to the use of micro-targeting. Voters are no longer exposed to the same political messages or arguments, rather each voter is treated as a psychological target. As a result, there exists a fractured informational environment that contributes to a climate in which politics appears to be personal, emotional and tribal.

While advocates claim that digital targeting increases voter participation among marginalized groups, this assumes transparency and good faith. However, micro-targeting has been employed to depress voter turn-out, increase fear and expedite the dissemination of false information at rates greater than those of journalism.

For a democracy to function properly, it requires that all citizens receive the same information, or at least participate in a common public dialogue. Once persuasion occurs behind closed doors and in a personalized manner, the very notion of a democratic discourse is rendered hollow.

References

• Cadwalladr, C., & Graham-Harrison, E. “Revealed: 50 Million Facebook Profiles Harvested for Cambridge Analytica.” The Guardian, 2018.

• Kreiss, D., & McGregor, S. “The ‘Arbiters of What Our Voters See’: Political Campaigns and Platform Governance in the Era of Social Media.” Political Communication, 2019.

• Zuiderveen Borgesius, F. et al. “Online Political Microtargeting: Promises and Threats.” Internet Policy Review, 2018.

• Zuboff, S. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. PublicAffairs, 2019.