Trump campaign stole user data to influence American voters. Your Facebook data was used against you

[kpete]

Facebook has suffered a major data breach. The Trump campaign stole user data to influence American voters. Your Facebook data was used against you:






MORE:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election?CMP=share_btn_tw

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[jpak]

1. Ask me again why I don't do Facebook

Or have any stupid eavesdropping device from Amazon, Google or whatever in my home.

[lindysalsagal]

4. Got that right. Bad enough my damn cell asks me what I

Thought of CVS.....America Under Surveillance.

[Cha]

2. Wow.. they left me out .. not that

it would have done them any good.

wth fb

[underpants]

3. Im not doubting this but I just dont get the Facebook thing

I’m on Facebook and have maybe 150-200 “friends” some of whom I think went to the same high school or are friends of friends.

This Facebook “News Feed”thing I just don’t get. Yes I have people who post absurd RW links and stupid memes but I evaluate each by what I know of the poster and the source. I do read through some of them to see how they’ve manipulated a story (some are headline only). Do people really believe everything they see?

[yardwork]

7. Yes. There's a lot of clever misinformation.

"Exploit their inner demons" is the key here. Data analytics create remarkably accurate profiles of our personalities by collating lots of seemingly innocuous information. This kind of data mining and analysis has been around for a long time, but it's gotten much, much more powerful.

For years, we've all been targeted by marketers who buy lists of people who are likely to buy specific products. Those lists are compilations of data like where we live, the value of our house and our neighbors' houses, what magazines we subscribe to, what credit cards we have, etc. Suddenly, the power of this data and the ways it can be sifted to create personal profiles has become exponentially more powerful.

From our Facebook feeds and other clues we leave, they know what we fear. They know what illnesses we have and what our relatives died from. They know if we believe in God or are atheists. If we think abortion is a sin or a right. How we feel about gay marriage. How many guns we own and what kinds. And so on. From those profiles they target us with fake news stories that resonate with us.

Has your Facebook feed had a story about a child dying of cancer? You'll get the video that said Trump secretly paid for a child to fight cancer at St Jude's. You'll also get a "news" story saying that Hillary wants to cut cancer funding. And if you google these stories, you will find "news" sites that appear to corroborate and confirm the lies. You will believe those stories, and the dozens of others you will get during the campaign. You will vote for Trump.

It worked.

[underpants]

10. Sorry this iOS 11 keyboard is killing me

Anyway - I get what you are saying I just don’t get that people receive unsolicited links and believe them. I guess it’s classic marketing (repetition).

[yardwork]

12. The Russians targeted gullible people.

[hedda_foil]

5. The whole piece is a must read. Can somebody please figure out how to copy the key graphic?

[RandomAccess]

8. This??

OMG - MORE ties to Russia

[hedda_foil]

9. Yes! It explains so much.

How did you do it?

[RandomAccess]

11. I used a screen capture utility --

one that I love a lot, Fast Stone Capture, tho there are lots that are free

saved it to my harddrive as a jpg file, then uploaded it to PostImage.org, copied the jpg URL there and pasted it into the thread.

Easy.

[yardwork]

13. And also, Betsy DeVos's family owns some kind of healthcare company with data...

[Squinch]

6. And still no boycott of this weaponized piece of social media.

"But, but, I get to see my high school friends' vacation photos! And it helps me keep in touch with family who I can't possibly text or phone!"

[Kirk Lover]

14. Is this illegal? nt

[LeftInTX]

15. I don't think so

It is not much different than targeted ads.

[Kirk Lover]

16. But if the 'stole' the information???? n/t

[LeftInTX]

18. It may be illegal in other countries

If you have friend list on FB, they can determine if they are "likely or possible Trump" voters. They can then take that name and check in registered voter lists (which is perfectly legal) they can also see if voters voted in Democratic or Republican primaries, if they have donated to candidates or if they have signed in at campaign events etc. The campaign will then usually contact that person via phone, or mailers etc.

Now if those names were sent to Wikileaks or lawbreaking entity, it would probably be illegal. But using names, address, phone numbers, email is all part of politicking. Both parties do.


It may be against FB TOS.

Just as I was typing this, I had a campaign worker for a Democratic County Commissioner candidate at my door. He knew that I knew the candidate.

[workinclasszero]

17. Bought and paid for by Robert Mercer

An enemy of democracy and freedom just like the Koch bros.

These billionaires are trying hard to snuff out democracy just like their grandfathers tried in FDR's time.

We stopped them then, can we do it now?

[CelticWinter]

19. this does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling nt