Is Big Data Corrupting the US Election Process

Author: Molly Kozlowski

Date Published: September 8, 2019

Link: https://www.digitalethics.org/essays/big-data-corrupting-us-election-process

First Impression: Based on the title, I think the essay is about how different political campaigns use the data gathered from social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to influence voters choices.

Quote:

“If you run campaigns designed to undermine people’s ability to make free choices and to understand what is real and not real, you are undermining democracy and treating voters in the same way as you are treating terrorists.”

Reflection:

The way we communicated with social media has altered. Whether it's Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or a host of other applications, we've all been provided a quick way to communicate and communicate with friends, family, and those who share our business. Social media is a strong instrument for communicating the disputes experienced by constituents and individuals in our societies to the outside world when it comes to our union.

Social media has also altered the way in which political communication takes place in the U.S. Political institutions such as governments, political parties, foundations, organizations, and more all use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to interact, participate, and, of course, persuade voters to vote for them, which means that one post or tweet from one of the applicants can have a real impact on a vote. Little do the electorate understand that individual social media businesses secretly collect their data and use it against them to shove them from one party to another.

5 Things I Learned

1. I learned that Facebook handles people’s data against them through social media.

2. I learned how political campaigns use big data as an advantage

3. I learned the different kinds of data being collected

4. I learned the positive and negative effects of big data

5. I learned that microtargeting based on demographic information is a trend in campaign strategy.

5 Integrative Questions

1. Who are the other companies that have access to our data?

2. Why do we allow these companies to gain access to our data?

3. What will happen to us if our data is used against us?

4. Is there a way to permanently delete all our data in Facebook?

5. What if the data being gathered from us gets leaked or exploited?