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The Real Story: Hacking the Vote

Factual

Hacking the Vote

14/04/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - The Real Story, Hacking the Vote

How big data is being used to win elections

Political parties and advertisers are using big data to tailor specific messages with the power to target and even change a particular voter's preferences.

Highly sophisticated techniques to ‘micro-target’ voters, using personal data and demographics have been credited with contributing to the recent outcomes of both the Brexit vote in the UK and Donald Trump’s victory in America. Strategists involved in the forthcoming elections in France and Germany ignore these latest methods at their peril.  But can techniques used in marketing to sell cars and toothpaste really be effective in predicting and then manipulating voters in an election?  Join Owen Bennett Jones and his guests on Newshour Extra as they discuss what part micro-targeting will have in the politics of tomorrow.

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