RSA Conversations

Silicon Valley's Persuasion Machine

Episode Summary

Can companies like Cambridge Analytica really swing elections and referendums? With Chris Sumner and Martin Moore.

Episode Notes

By now, lots of us have heard at least part of the story of the Facebook election scandal. Cambridge Analytica, the company in the eye of the storm, has closed its doors and is under investigation. But how effective were its methods? Can ‘psychographic microtargeting’ really swing elections and referendums? And is it already driving a wedge in our politics?

Guests

• Chris Sumner, research director of the Online Privacy Foundation
• Martin Moore, director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at King's College London

Links

• 'Who's zoomin' who?' – Ian's short piece on Cambridge Analytica, March 2018
• Wikipedia: Big Five personality traits and OCEAN
• Amazon: The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
• Vox: A massive new study reviews the evidence on whether campaigning works. The answer's bleak.
• YouTube: Rage Against the Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine - Chris Sumner's talk on the Online Privacy Foundation's psychographic microtargeting research, at the DEF CON hacker conference, October 2017
• Wikipedia: Social proof
• Martin Moore's blog
• Martin's forthcoming book: Democracy Hacked: Political Turmoil and Information Warfare in the Digital Age
• Fisher, M., & Keil, F. (2014). The Illusion of Argument Justification. Journal of Experimental Psychology.
• Ian's newsletter, The Ruffian
• Ian Leslie on Twitter
• Matthew Taylor on Twitter

Produced by James Shield. Artwork design by Emily Power.

Brought to you by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).

www.theRSA.org