<p>The Influence Industry's Voter Literacy Resources are designed for voters, community organisers, and educators around the world navigating data-driven political influence. You can find materials to run a Voter's Guide workshop as well as self-guided learning tools from around the world.</p>


The Influence Industry's Inform: Voter Literacy Resources are
designed for voters, community organisers, and educators around the world
navigating data-driven political influence. In these resources, you will find
materials for workshops and self-guided learning for voters around the world.

For Facilitators

For Voters 

Inform: Voter Literacy Resources

<p>Explore 500+ companies operating in the business of political influence through our interactive and open database or read the case studies from us and our partnerships on the influence industry, its role in specific countries and regions, and our research methodologies.</p>


In the process of researching and documenting how the Influence
Industry operates in different political contexts around the world, our
project and our partners examined over 500 companies that play a role in this
wider ecosystem — from global data brokers to local campaign consultancies. 

The Influence Industry Case Studies

The Influence Industry Explorer

<p>The Influence Industry Learning Hub is an educational guide to help you learn about the role of private firms in political influence and the collection, analysis and sales of political data. The Learning Hub is based on half a decade of research in over 20 countries, expert consultation and our curated library of resources. </p>
<p>Start from module 1 or dive into your module of choice if you already know what you’re interested in. Check out <ColouredLink href="https://influenceindustry.org/en/project/about/" theme="project">our team page</ColouredLink> if you want to get in touch with any queries, join our informational mailing list, or find out about our live workshops.</p>


These modules will help you learn about how political actors —
such as political parties, candidates or candidate-endorsing campaigns —
relate to one another. 

Digital technologies and the data-centered economies are
revolutionising how we live, interact, provide for ourselves and debate the
complexities of the human experience.

Learning Modules

Learn about the Influence Industry

<p>An introductory animated video describing a variety of uses of personal data in political elections, and some important consequences on our political and democratic processes.</p>


Your Data, Our Democracy

<p>A history of how technology has affected the shape and nature of political campaigning and communications, and why it matters to understanding the political environment we are part of now.</p>


History of Personal Data and Industry Mediation in Campaigns

<p>"The idea for <em>The Influence Industry</em> started in March 2016, when by a stroke of luck I found myself sitting on a plane from Berlin to London next to the founder of a start-up." Read how Stephanie Hankey, Director at Tactical Tech, began her journey into creating this project.</p>


The Journey Begins: The Global Business of Using Your Data in Elections

<ul>
<li>The Political Data Technology Framework</li>
<li>Data as a Political Asset</li>
</ul>


Module II

Technologies Used by the Influence Industry

<p>Personal data powers political campaigns across the world. Learn about the international similarities and differences in the influence industry.</p>


Where does the influence industry operate?

<p>A module describing the details of how the companies and methods used in data-driven campaigns form an industry, and details how of we can understand how this industry works.</p>


The industry behind the influence

<p>In this module, you can navigate the inestigations our partners have conducted across the world. Learn about the use of WhatsApp in campaigns in Brazil, the role of data brokers and digital consultants in elections in India, and the lack of transparency of the type of work the companies do in the UK, even when there are formal reporting processes.</p>
<p>Throughout, we can see some important differences in practices and some of the reasons for them. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>Legislation on data </li>
<li>Relationship between governments and private companies</li>
<li>Common sources of information </li>
<li>Internet access levels</li>
</ul>
<p>Explore the list below to read by country or region.</p>


Across the world, political influence across the world is reliant
on personal data. The nature of technology has always broken down the borders
between cultures, practices, and experiences and the influence industry is no
exception. 

Across the world, political influence across the world is
reliant on personal data. The nature of technology has always broken down the
borders between cultures, practices, and experiences and the influence
industry is no exception. Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, - popular communication
channels – are found worldwide. Personal Data collection and analysis
techniques vary from consumer and voter files to digital national
identification databases. And the companies within the industry itself, move
between international spaces or pop-up for local elections before disappearing
and reappearing under a near name in a different country. 

Core Content for this Module

More Learning Modules

Innovations in the Influence Industry are significantly driven in the
tech-industry and political contexts of the United States.

The Influence Industry is also present outside of the United States /
North American context and evidence of its operations can be found in
South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australasia.

The scope and scale of the Influence Industry varies but must be
understood to not simple be a Western or Global North issue.  

Where Does the Influence Industry Operate?

<p>When political groups engage with technologies for the purpose of influence, they often engage with industry professionals. These technology experts don’t just play the role of controllers, but also have qualitative input into the content, frequency and style of messaging that happens through these channels. The professionals perform different functions in the political process: they might control and manage the use of the technologies, mediate between citizens' voices and political groups, or provide strategy and direction for how to engage with technology.</p>
<TextBox text="<h3>Questions to Reflect</h3><p>If you think about a 'typical' political advertisement, where do you find the advertisement? What are the key features of it? What about if you consider a political advertisement from five years ago? How about ten? Think about your existing impressions of political advertisements as you continue through the section.</p>" />
<p>The role of mediators has changed as technology has developed:</p>
<h2>Printing Press and Traditional Media</h2>
<p>The development of the printing press made it possible to produce large quantities of newspapers and magazines to be made available to the public. The professionals that manage these print media are usually editors, reporters and journalists. The media can play various roles to not only communicate politicians’ values and policies, but also hold them to account. The accountability and transparency of political elites are integral to the functioning of most political systems.</p>
<h2>Television and Radio</h2>
<p>Media and journalism professionals also utilise the introduction of television and radio into homes through news programs. Furthermore, political campaigns and candidates changed their approach to political influence to incorporate visual elements that television provided. For example, political parties paid more attention to their clothes and the surroundings such as backgrounds at their conferences and the neighbourhoods in which they appear in interviews. Television and radio also saw an introduction of advertising space to be used by political parties.</p>
<h3>In Practice</h3>
<p>In the United Kingdom, official radio and television broadcasts are called Party Political Broadcast. Parties are not allowed to purchase advertising space; instead, they are allocated broadcast slots free of charge on broadcast channels using a formula set by Parliament that ensures a fair distribution across different parties. Below you can see a political election broadcast from the Labour Party in 1997, an election year in which the Labour Party won by a landslide.<F>Labour Party Election Broadcast 28 April 1997, YouTube.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyaoRXAsGGo. Accessed 8 Apr. 2022</F></p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dyaoRXAsGGo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>Labour Party Election Broadcast 28 April 1997, Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com">https://www.youtube.com</a></p>
<h2>PR and Advertising Consultants</h2>
<p>A few consultants from commercial advertising were already engaged in political communications as early as the 1950s. Vance Packard described in his book, ‘The Hidden Persuaders’, how political strategies were designed to sell candidates to voters ‘like toothpaste’, and how public relations directors at the time boasted that ‘scientific methods take the guesswork out of politics’.<F>Vince Packard (1957), The Hidden Persuaders, 1957.</F></p>
<p>It became more popular for politicians to engage with these PR and private advertising agencies, and names such as Saatchi and Saatchi have been involved in politics. This not only led to more engagement with advertisers but also to professionals in political advertising. In 1960, for example, the Republican National Committee established their own internal advertising firm, Campaign Associates, “by handpicking ideologically sympathetic advertising executives from the nation’s leading advertising companies” <F>Martin, G., &#x26; Peskowitz, Z. (2018). Agency Problems in Political Campaigns: Media Buying and Consulting. American Political Science Review, 112</F></p>
<h2>Platforms, Social Media, Websites and E-mail</h2>
<p>Technology industry involvement in political influence from the 2000s is defined by the availability of e-mail and social media platforms, which allowed politicians in some ways to 'escape' the mediation of journalists and traditional press and to talk directly to constituents through their own email addresses or social media profiles and pages. In this environment, both traditional press and social media are used in conjunction with each other for political influence in what has been referred to as a hybrid media system.<F>Chadwick, A. (2013). The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power</F></p>
<Image src="https://cdn.ttc.io/s/the-influence-industry-project/learninghub/learn_anime.gif" alt="gif showing the progression from politicians talking to citizens, adding in mass media, then social media, then digital consultants" caption="The progression of the role of mediating companies and consultants in political influence, Source: Tactical Tech" />
<h2>The Influence Industry and Personal Data</h2>
<p>Data-driven technologies have created a new set of professionals employed by political groups to manage their communications. In this stage, personal data is collected and analysed to gain insights into constituents’ political beliefs. This process has become integral to the functioning of campaigns, in particular the use of personalised and targeted advertising. These techniques also focus on scale and quantified measures of success. Marketing consultants begin to play a much more substantial role in the political influence industry, alongside digital communications experts and data brokers.</p>
<h3>In practice</h3>
<p>Barack Obama's election campaigns for US President in 2008 and 2012 were heralded for their use of personal data. Data on voters was collected by door-to-door volunteers, consolidated with other private data sources, and analysed to produce scores for how likely someone was to vote for Obama, as well as on their general interests relating to politics, and from that deciding if and how to personalise content to be targeted to these segmented audiences.</p>
<TextBox text='<h3>Reading List</h3><p>How Obama’s Team Used Big Data to Rally Voters, Sasha Issenberg, Technology Review, 2012, <a class="long" href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/12/19/114510/how-obamas-team-used-big-data-to-rally-voters/">https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/12/19/114510/how-obamas-team-used-big-data-to-rally-voters/</a></p><p>Chadwick, A. (2013). The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power, 2012, <a class="long" href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199759477.001.0001/acprof-9780199759477">https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199759477.001.0001/acprof-9780199759477</a></p>' />


Political groups, candidates and civil society have always adapted
their influence strategies to new technologies including the printing press,
telephone, radio, television, email, social media, SMS, apps and direct
messaging services. With each change in technology, the political processes
change, too. This sub-module explores how different technologies have changed
the nature of political influence.

Political groups, candidates and civil society have always
adapted their influence strategies to new technologies including the printing
press, radio, television, email, social media and direct messaging channels.
With each change in technology, the political processes change, too. This
section explores how technologies and the mediators of our communications have
changed the nature of influence over the last 100 years. 

Sections for Module 1

Section II

The History of Industry Mediation in Campaigns

<p>In this module, you will be presented with <em>The Political Data Technologies Framework</em> developed by our Data and Politics team. The framework demonstrates how data-driven technologies used by the influence industry allow political actors to use personal data in three main categories: as an asset, as intelligence, and as influence. In each section, you will learn about a selection of technologies from each category and see how they have been applied around the world. You will also find reflections and activities to accompany the text.</p>
<p>Examining and understanding the tools and the mechanisms of the influence industry is critical for unpacking the ethics surrounding each tool - focusing too much on Facebook, for example, doesn't allow the conversation to include if the same concerns and regulations should be applied to the use of WhatsApp groups or A/B testing. </p>
<p>By expanding their knowledge of the industry, regulators and policy-makers can ensure their work is not overly limited to well-known scandals or tech platforms that have been in the spotlight. Investigators, researchers and election monitors can observe and scrutinise the full range of tools and tactics applied by political groups. Voters can understand better where and how influence might appear to them, to take more agency over how they form their political opinions. </p>


What technologies are used in digital political campaigning and how
does the Influence Industry use voter data to drive political communication?

Political influence campaigns engage a variety of tools
during election cycles. ‘Traditional’ political campaigning methods include
printed billboard and poster campaigns, radio and television political ads,
in-person rallies or door-to-door canvassing orchestrated by political
mediators. These methods were designed and implemented over time with changes
happening incrementally. By contrast, technologies used in digital
campaigning, sometimes called "campaign-tech" or "political ad-tech", have
accelerated in the past decade and are largely unregulated and nontransparent.
This chapter outlines a framework for understanding the different ways
data-driven tools can be understood (as an asset, as intelligence, or as
influence) with demonstrative examples from across the world. 

Sections for Module 2

Categorise uses of collected personal data within the Political Data
Technologies Framework

Learn about a sample of technologies used by the Influence Industry

Explore global examples and tools of the Influence Industry

<p>Digital campaign consultants can support online communications such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/30/brad-parscale-trump-social-media-rasputin-campaign-manager">Brad Parscale who developed Donald Trump's social media campaigns in 2016 and 2020</a>. Data brokers can provide political parties with voter data, such as Experian, a company that <a href="https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/overview-uk/">sold data to political parties in the UK</a> and <a href="https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/overview-brazil/">Brazil</a>. The companies can be involved in more nefarious methods such as uRepresentation who created <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/operation-carthage-how-a-tunisian-company-conducted-influence-operations-in-african-presidential-elections/">inauthentic Facebook pages to support political campaigns in various African countries.</a></p>
<p>We wanted to research a much larger industry. We started our research by examining a few news articles that profiled data brokers and data analytics companies. From there, we began a series of in-depth investigations into the context of these companies – the work they do, their outreach and how they fit into a landscape of other organisations and actors. We reviewed the websites and promotional materials they produced, we conducted open-ended interviews with some of their staff members, and we attended industry events. Our findings helped us map a digital campaigning industry whose breadth and depth far surpassed our expectations.</p>
<p>We discovered that the lack of consistent and regular reporting belied a richer and more complex web of organisations, which was easily found as soon as we started looking. From each entity, several threads would lead to others. For example, as shown below, the software platform NationBuilder’s website lists 16 other data companies they work with who either provide them with data, analytics or identity resolution practices. Within only a few weeks, we had a list of 60 agencies, companies or organisations who either sold data or relied on it for data-driven campaigning techniques, which they offered to political campaigns. At this point it was clear that within the larger data industry, there existed a distinct <em>political data</em> industry.</p>
<p>Our overview of organisations working with political data can also help map where their work fits within a broader industry, to understand which parts of their work were relatively normalised in modern political campaigning and which parts of their work were highly unusual and not representative of the broader personal data and political campaigning industry.</p>


In this module, learn about how the number, variety, and nature of
the companies involved in the space form an industry. Discover about where the
companies are working, the type of work that distinguishes different
companies, and the approach of the companies that form the industry that shape
politics today.

In 2018, Cambridge Analytica, the data mining and analytics
company, dominated the news about political campaigning and data. But
Cambridge Analytica is one actor among many. Over 500 companies work on
political campaigns around the world. The technology companies play various
roles in political campaigns. In this module learning about how the number,
variety, and nature of the companies involved in the space form an industry.
Learn about where the companies are working, the type of work that
distinguishes different companies, and the approach of the companies that form
the industry that shape politics today.