Microtargeting Puns

>You might have heard of something called GamerGate a few years ago. > >GamerGate was a psyop conducted in cyberspace against women in the gaming world, using psychological microtargeting metrics obtained via Facebook and other social media platforms. > >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy > >Men who might be receptive to a misogynistic psychological operation were identified via their social media postings (single or divorced, possibly on the autism spectrum, working in the tech industry, possibly frustrated with their careers and/or income) and were targeted with propaganda designed to trigger their emotional weak points. > >Especially targeted were single men who were/are frustrated with their sex lives (incels, or "woke" nerd-dudes) in a manner that encouraged them to project their sexual/emotional inadequacies onto women. > >"What Is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks" > >Once in a state of hypnosis (which is the essential goal of any form of propaganda, regardless of media platform---I should know because I am trained in these techniques myself), the men targeted in the psyop were weaponized against women working in industries where they were already in the minority---like gaming, or science, or medicine, or media production, or even the military. > >"How Women Are Harassed Out of Science" > >The result was (and remains) to target, frighten and trigger women and hopefully drive them out of these industries, while also elevating men more than they already were--- costing women professional job opportunities over the long term. > >Result? Watering down the talent pool, and (often) elevating incompetence. WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG??!!! > >Who might benefit from this, you wonder? Welp, not the USA. Here's a hint.

The original 194(!) tweet long thread of batshit insanity can be found here.

I'm doing my Final Project on political digital microtargeting's influence on the concept of liberal and pluralist democracy. Which do you think are the most relevant authors who defined this type of democracy, and their main concepts? I think Dahl (Poliarchy), Rawls (Reasonable Pluralism) and Mill (Freedom of speech) might be the main to see how microtargeting affects liberal and pluralist democracy. What do you think? Do you have any recommendation?

Thank you very much!

I'll be honest because there's a chance you'll probably be able to tell, but I was not fully coherent at 7 am. That being said, I did watch the zoom lecture and took notes for anyone who was interested and couldn't attend. They streamed it on YouTube as well and said they'll officially post it by next Tuesday and the stream is unlisted now, so I don't got a clue if I'm allowed to link that. I'm more than happy to share my personal opinions if anyone really wants to hear that, but this post is just meant to share the gist. On to the show:

• Intro: Data collection has become a foundation of democracy and "essential to major party campaigning"
• The Initial Prompts: What are the things we should be most worried about in terms of the interactive effect between data and the political process going into the 2020 Election?
  • Briant's position boiled down to two points:

1. Lack of knowledge about it. We need a real investigation into Cambridge Analytica, we need to actually know how everything works rather than speculate. We can't rely solely on whistleblowers. We don't know to what extent everything is.
2. Vulnerable people are the real targets of micro targeting and data mining (which go hand in hand obviously). Micro targeting is 20% more effective on them. It's predatory and exploitative.
   1. There's a segment here about religion being pushed as well on those struggling and how religion is intertwined with politics. I just don't have the skills or eloquence she did to make it sound connected, so it gets a separate point
   2. Plugs the movie "People You May Know" which will be available on the 28th on Amazon

• Karpf position comes down to the fact that yes, he is worried about the security of 2020 election BUT micro targeting is less an issue than made out to be, especially in the grand scheme
  • 4 types of hackings: Direct Opinion Change (targeted news and ads), Media Agenda (release what at what time, narrative control), Structural Voter Suppression (mail votings laws, making it difficult to vote especially for young and nonwhite demographics), and the Actual Hacking of Voting Machines
  • Micro targeting is just not as effective as a whole, that U.S. elections have a sheer size of ad budget that "incentivizes bullshit." People are, generally, not jumping ships to other parties for Presidential elections, even with these ads.
• What is the best place to intervene?
• If either answered this question, I didn't catch it BUT
  • Briant does go on