Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threat to Democracy

You came into their temple and shat on their altar.

TED attendee to Carole Cadwalladr, The Guardian article

In an unmissable talk, journalist Carole Cadwalladr digs into one of the most perplexing events in recent times: the UK’s super-close 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal
Tracking the result to a barrage of misleading Facebook ads targeted at vulnerable Brexit swing voters — and linking the same players and tactics to the 2016 US presidential election through Cambridge Analytica — Cadwalladr calls out the “gods of Silicon Valley” for being on the wrong side of history and asks: Are free and fair elections a thing of the past?

This talk was presented at an official TED conference and was featured by our editors on the home page.

It’s not about privacy – it’s about power

The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal isn’t about privacy — it’s about power, says journalist Carole Cadwalladr. In conversation with TED Global Curator Bruno Giussani, Cadwalladr discusses the latest on her reporting on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal — and what we still don’t know about the transatlantic links between Brexit and the 2016 US presidential election.

Who has the information, who has the data about you, that is where power now lies.

Carole Cadwalladr

This talk was presented at an official TED event.

“when Johnson was foreign secretary. And WikiLeaks, based in London’s Ecuadorean embassy, was revealed to be “Organisation A”, a channel for Russian intelligence. It was no longer credible to ignore British involvement in a transatlantic web of Kremlin…” https://t.co/C2ov2TApoB

— Jan Terje Espeland (@jantesays) September 12, 2020

““Why is this lying bastard lying to me?” is a traditional approach to journalism. We in Britain should be asking: why are these lying politicians not taking action over this lying company that is allowing lying politicians to lie to me?” https://t.co/c7M5bCyaRl— Jan Terje Espeland (@jantesays) September 12, 2020

“If it wasn’t for Facebook, there would be no Brexit. The future of our country – our island nation with its 1,000 years of continuous history of which we’re so proud – has been set on its course by a foreign company that has proved itself to be beyond” https://t.co/HpfjHBhFDv

— Jan Terje Espeland (@jantesays) September 12, 2020

“Because this is a company that facilitated an attack on a US election by a foreign power, that live-streamed a massacre then broadcast it to millions around the world, and helped incite a genocide.
I’ll say that again. It helped incite a genocide. A U…” https://t.co/eurcBwwGzF

— Jan Terje Espeland (@jantesays) September 12, 2020

Reuters: Facebook rejects request to release Myanmar officials’ data for genocide case