Read the critical reviews here and ask yourself to what use we have put the hyper powerful computing power ,infinite memory storage and vast amounts of OUR DATA controlled by , literally, a handful of people. Granted it's mostly for commerce, selling us stuff, until it becomes selling our data to people or entities who clearly don't have our best interests in mind or at heart. And this handful of people cares not one wit to whom they are selling our data or what their ultimate aims might be. ??? leftist propaganda??? One need only look at the decidedly anti democratic trends sweeping the globe to understand how powerful the manipulation of people through the use of the data they surrender, either willing or not is. This film attempts to illuminate the dangers of weaponizing our data and using it against us to undermine democracy and how vulnerable we are to that sort of manipulation. There are real world consequences , Myanmar for one and those are bloody consequences. Propaganda is certainly the familiar domain of the fascists who currently hold sway. across the globe. Despite what the reviews on offer here proclaim this film is hardly propaganda , far from it.

This documentary helped me understand what went down during the 2016 election as well as what those Zukerberg hearings were really about. I wish the filmmakers hadn't spent so much time trying to make the heads of Cambridge Analitica more likeable when really, at their core, they weren't respectable people.

Modern data analytics can be a powerful aid to marketing. What's scary is that the information that so-called "data scientists" use is often taken from us without our permission, to be sold to the highest bidder, including unsavoury participants in elections. 'The Great Hack' tells the story of Cambridge Analytica, one firm operating in this space, that was eventually ruined after its practices were exposed, but not before it had worked for Trump and the Brexit campaign. It's founders still consider themselves victims; but only because they see nothing wrong in turning elections from battles of ideas into games of manipulation. The most shocking story revealed here is one of the less well-known: the company's utterly cynical efforts to deter young Trinidadians from voting. It's very hard to feel any sympathy for the firm; and even its whistleblowers, who feature in the documentary, come across more as rats jumping the sinking ship than genuine idealists. The solution proposed by one of them, that we should be able to monetise our own data ourselves, completely misses the point if the data is used to undermine societal institutions. Cambridge Analytica may have collapsed, but the politicians it supported still damage our body politic. The film is over-long but it carries an important message: that if we, as a society, do not take control soon, we risk losing our ability to do so altogether.