Instead of denying access to communications and information, bad actors can now use internet platforms to confuse a population, drowning them in nonsense. “Zeynep Tufekci, the UNC scholar who is one of the world’s foremost experts on the impact of emerging technology in politics, has observed that internet platforms enable the powerful to affect a new kind of censorship. Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe Microtargeting transforms the public square of politics into the psychological mugging of every voter.” In combination with the platforms’ persuasive technologies, microtargeting becomes another tool for dividing us. In theory, each voter could be attracted to a candidate for a different reason. If a campaign knows a voter believes strongly in protecting the environment, it can craft a personalized message blaming the other candidate for not doing enough, even if that is not true. Instead they can invert the model, using microtargeting to identify whatever issue motivates each voter and play to that. Candidates no longer have to search for voters who share their values. Facebook, in particular, enables advertisers to identify an emotional hot button for individual voters that can be pressed for electoral advantage, irrespective of its relevance to the election. “One business practice I want to eliminate is the use of microtargeting in political advertising.
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