<p>In Module 4, learn about some of the ethical issues and questions that arise when data-driven campaign techniques are used in election campaigns.</p>


New Module: The Dilemmas of Using Personal Data in Election Campaigns 

<p>Join us as we hear from international researchers, professional and organisers. Inspired by the excellent work of professionals within our international networks, these interviews are a way to amplify the work and voices of the community examining the global and local practices of influencing elections. </p>


The Influence Industry Project: Interview Series

<p>In 2008 the Barack Obama campaign revolutionised grass roots campaigning using the power of social media tools for supporter engagement, a feat that would be repeated again in 2012. In 2016, the Trump campaign was highly active on Facebook in particular. During that same election cycle, external nation-state actors were accused of engaging in a data-driven, social media focused misinformation campaign to further fuel division in the American electorate. That same year, across the Atlantic, the ultimately successful Voter Leave campaign was building a new data-driven voter analytics system with which to bolster the Leave campaign during the EU Membership - aka Brexit - Referendum. In 2018, it was exposed that Cambridge Analytica, one of the many data and digital strategy consultants working with political campaigns, had collected millions of Facebook users' data for political ad targeting. Since then, the role of social media, data and digital influence campaigns in election processes across the world have been under a close spotlight by regulators, civil society organisations, election monitors and tech companies themselves. During this time, Tactical Tech's Data &#x26; Politics research team and its international partners have been tracking commonly used digital and data-driven tools within digital election campaigning and how these are deployed in different political contexts across the globe. </p>


Welcome to The Influence Industry Project

<p><a href="/en/learn">Learn</a> about, <a href="/en/explorer/">explore</a> research, and discover <a href="/en/resources">resources</a> on the industry using our personal data <TextIcon>data</TextIcon> to influence citizens <TextIcon>citizens</TextIcon> in political campaigns <TextIcon>campaign</TextIcon>.</p>
<p>Across the world, data on citizens <TextIcon>voters</TextIcon> is being collected, traded and utilised to influence their political views <TextIcon>influence</TextIcon>. Despite increased attention in recent years, it is still difficult to access information about the industry actors or the technologies that they use to sway citizens' political views  <TextIcon>data_traces</TextIcon>. <a href="/en/project/about/">Our project</a> aims to increase accessibility and understanding to strengthen civic capacity <TextIcon>capacity</TextIcon> to engage with politics.</p>


The Influence Industry Project provides resources and guides about
the who, what, where and how personal data is used by political actors to
influence voters in political campaigns.

The Influence Industry Project provides learnings, resources
and guides to the who, what and how of the use of personal data on voters is
used in efforts to understand, engage and influence citizens in political
campaigns.

Highlights

The Influence Industry Project

<p>In Module 4, learn about some of the ethical issues and questions that arise when data-driven campaign techniques are used in election campaigns. As the influence industry remains closed to discussion about practices, methods and engagement, we find it crucial to create space for questioning and concern in how personal data is used in elections. In this module, we present information on implicit bias, the flaws in data logic, our right to privacy and the impact of ongoing political campaigns outside of election periods.</p>
<h3><a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/learn/dilemmas-personal-data-political-influence/">Module 4: The Dilemmas of Using Personal Data for Political Influence</a></h3>
<p>We have selected and highlighted several concerns that have come to us over half a decade researching the topic and speaking with industry professionals. The module aims to inform and serve as a foundation for any research, investigations and general understanding of the Influence Industry and the dilemmas of trusting its practices. </p>
<BigText text="The current political and economic systems that collect, process and sell data away from the public eye exploit individuals by misrepresenting the true cost of the exchange. Beyond that, when voters don't have a viable alternative to the status quo, consent is less meaningful." />


This chapter examines multiple reasons to interrogate the use of
personal data in political campaigns, many of which pertain to the security
and capacity of citizens to participate in politics. 

New Module: The Dilemmas of Using Personal Data in Election Campaigns

<p>We are pleased to introduce the <strong>Influence Industry Expert Interview Series</strong>.</p>
<p>Inspired by the excellent work of professionals within our international networks, these interviews are a way to amplify the work and voices of the community examining the global and local practices of influencing elections.</p>
<p>Throughout this series, we invite you to join us as we hear from international researchers, professionals and organisers, who have worked on uncovering the broad network of practices and companies working on political influence.</p>
<p>Listen in as former Data and Politics project co-lead Varoon Bashyakarla speaks with various experts, we’ll update this page as we launch new episodes as well as our PeerTube, Vimeo and YouTube channel.</p>
<p><strong>Varoon Bashyakarla</strong> is a data scientist and statistician who worked with Tactical Tech for several years as part of the Influence Industry project. His past statistical undertakings led him to a variety of domains: public health, public safety, sports, finance, art, and cybersecurity. He started his career working as a data scientist in Silicon Valley. Today, he splits his time between public-interest technology groups and private sector companies. He aims to help bridge these two spheres and to build privacy and security-preserving technologies that respect democratic ideals. </p>
<p>Find Varoon on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/vbashyakarla">@vbashyakarla</a> or contact him directly at vbashyakarla [at] proton [dot] me.</p>
<h3>Cyber-security expert Bob Diachenko:</h3>
<p>Bob Diachenko, one of the founders of <a href="https://securitydiscovery.com">Security Discovery</a> describes his journey into data security, why companies minimize the large role that human error plays in data breaches and what politicians running a data-driven campaign should be promising their constituents.</p>
<p>Listen the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-diachenko/">Interview with Bob Diachenko</a> or on <a href="https://youtu.be/JUvKdm-dimk">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/88442a6c-5ce8-4f3a-9e54-38f656b955a4">PeerTube</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/777816524">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<h3>Lawyer's Hub guests Linda Bonyo and Catherine Muya:</h3>
<p>Linda Bonyo, the founder and CEO of <a href="https://lawyershub.org/">Lawyer's Hub</a> describes her experience working to bridge the divide between technologists and law practitioners and the digital divide in Kenya. Fellow lawyer, Catherine Muya, also discusses issues of digital identity.</p>
<p>Listen the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-bonyo/">Interview with Linda Bonyo and Catherine Muya</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/pGPCX9UOfqM">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/689afb7b-42a9-4dcc-bd72-b8c8dd8b2d33">PeerTube</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/777816524">Vimeo</a></p>
<h3>Elections and civil society researcher Tetyana Bohdanova:</h3>
<p>Tetyana Bohdanova describes the historical events leading up to the 2019 national elections in Ukraine and what she found in her in depth research on data-driven campaigning during the election. Please note the interview was recorded in June 2021.</p>
<p>Listen the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-bohdanova/">Interview with Tetyana Bohdanova</a> or listen on <a href="https://youtu.be/BxwWd5444Og">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/b1a556a7-0eba-458a-8d41-26e727ea4ac0">PeerTube</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/780994942">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<h3>Data journalist and researcher Nino Macharashvili</h3>
<p>Nino Macharashvili speaks about the the state of politics in the country of Georgia in 2021. From offline voting practices that have the potential to be translated online to the history of revolution and hope, this conversation explores Macharashvili’s research and thoughts for the future. Please note the interview was recorded in July 2021.</p>
<p>Listen to the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-macharashvili/">Interview with Nino Macharashvili</a> or listen on <a href="https://youtu.be/ggfIAtAYr6g">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/d650b342-7bf9-4859-a0c2-c667eecd4ad9">PeerTube</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/777816524">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<h3>Digital Rights and Leglislation Activist Rafael Zanatta</h3>
<p>Rafael Zanatta and Varoon Bashyakarla discuss how popular media often misrepresents techno-authoritarianism, the legal reaction to data breaches in Brazil and why data protection is for everyone. </p>
<p>Listen to the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-zanatta/">Interview with Rafael Zanatta</a> or listen on <a href="https://youtu.be/Yu5ZUY3kNqY">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/d138b452-ec81-473f-837e-4b6615de66a3">PeerTube</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/781802393">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<h3>Digital Rights Activist and Researcher Eliana Quiroz</h3>
<p>Eliana speaks with former Data and Politics co-lead Varoon Bashyakarla about her journey into activism, the disinformation ecosystem in Bolivia, and how her organisation, Internet Bolivia.org is working to expand the digital rights conversation in Bolivia to include all citizens. </p>
<p>Listen to the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-quiroz/">Interview with Eliana Quiroz</a> or listen on <a href="https://youtu.be/6ZNXZgf6yjk">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/aacb93fc-45b0-4ad6-9465-d54bd7970099">PeerTube</a>, or <a href="https://vimeo.com/781823170">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<h3>Investigative Journalist Kumar Sambhav</h3>
<p>Kumar Sambhav and Varoon Bashyakarla discuss Sambhav’s latest investigative reportage about how Meta’s ad platform undercut political competition in Indian elections, the privacy implications of India’s national ID database, and why regulations need to be dynamic in order to protect citizens from the drawbacks of new technologies. </p>
<p>Listen to the audio and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-sambhav/">Interview with Kumar Sambhav</a> or listen on <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/3363777d-bac2-4125-826c-ea2d1073110e">PeerTube</a>, <a href="https://vimeo.com/794188431">Vimeo</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/7ZX65ql4jk0">YouTube</a>. </p>
<h3>Member of Parliament Hon. Neema Lugangira (Tanzania)</h3>
<p>Hon. Neema Lugangira (MP, Tanzania) speaks with Varoon Bashyakarla to discuss the relationship between online discourse and  gender equity in leadership, how the agricultural and nutrition sector are intertwined with technology, and how a girls coding camp in Tanzania convinced a UN office to be more inclusive. The conversation also covers the new African Parliamentary Network on Internet Governance (APNIG) of which Neema is the founding chair. </p>
<p>Hear the complete interview and read the transcript: <a href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/resources/full-interview-lugangira/">Interview with Hon. Neema Lugangira</a>. The interview is also avaiable on <a href="https://watch.tacticaltech.org/videos/watch/fd7f255a-df89-4c3f-b560-d0b6c6c3f275">PeerTube</a>, <a href="https://vimeo.com/796350905">Vimeo</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/nEmXu0BgMOc">YouTube</a>.</p>


The Influence Industry Project: Interview Series highlights the
work of people and groups working to uncover the broad network of practices
and companies working on political influence. 

The Influence Industry Interviews

<p>In order to help address this digital knowledge divide, Tactical Tech's Data &#x26; Politics is launching The Influence Industry Project: an intersection of research, learning and exploration of the Influence Industry of professional digital political campaigners, the data-driven tools in its arsenal and the global contexts where it operates. The project provides long-form resources and structured learning modules addressing fundamental questions about the influence industry and soon will also provide a window to explore the industry using a combination of verified data sources and research.</p>
<p>In 2008, Barack Obama's Presidential campaign revolutionised grassroots campaigning using the power of digital social media tools for supporter engagement. In 2016, Donald Trump's Presidential campaign made use of a host of new data-driven campaign tactics and was highly active on Facebook in particular. That same year, across the Atlantic, the ultimately successful Vote Leave campaign was building a new data-driven voter analytics system to bolster the Leave campaign during the Brexit Referendum. In 2018, Cambridge Analytica was exposed for having collected millions of Facebook users' data for political ad targeting. </p>
<p>The role of social media, data and digital influence campaigns in election processes across the world is under scrutiny by regulators, civil society organisations, election monitors and tech companies themselves. During this time, Tactical Tech's Data &#x26; Politics research team and its international partners have been tracking commonly used digital and data-driven tools within digital election campaigning and how these are deployed in different political contexts. </p>
<p>Despite the topic of digital political campaigning being in the public eye, the discussion and questions remain largely surface-level. The conversations revolve around the role of Facebook and focus on digital political ads as a product. The conversation needs to become more nuanced and broader: what does it mean for political cohesion and democratic principles that an industry with countless actors specialising in adapting the tools of digital marketing, commerce, fundraising and brand-building to political communication are mediating political campaigns, largely without transparency? </p>
<p>Understanding the details of digital tools, data analytics and online digital strategies for voter segmentation, targeting and outreach is essential in order to understand how current democratic processes work. Expanding insights into the influence industry and how their practices are applied outside of a few cases covered by the media which are mostly in the US or Europe is essential to get a fuller grasp of how they operate and what the future might hold.</p>


The Influence Industry Project: an intersection of research,
learning and exploration of the Influence Industry of professional digital
political campaigners, the data-driven tools in its arsenal and the global
contexts of where it operates. The project provides long-form resources,
structured learning modules addressing fundamental questions about the
Influence Industry and soon will also provide a window to explore the Industry
using a combination of verified data-sources and research by the Data &
Politics team.