With Paraguay’s and other countries in Latin America’s elections around the corner, discover how political parties and candidates use your personal data and what we can do about it.
From TEDIC, and in partnership with Tactical Tech, an organization based in Berlin, Germany, we have presented the “Voter’s Guide”. This is a collection of resources designed to promote citizen’s critical thinking about the use of their personal data on the part of political actors with the purpose of influencing public opinion, elections, and other forms of political participation. Concretely, we have translated the original guide from English to Spanish. Moreover, we have customized some sections of the report to include some resources specific to the Latin American context.
It is well known that around the world, people’s data are collected, exchanged, and used to influence their political points of views. In spite of a greater attention in relation to the intersection of personal data and election, it is still difficult to access information about “influence industry” actors or the technologies they use to influence public opinion and people’s decision making .
This project aims to increase accessibility and understanding of these mechanisms, thus strengthening the critical and civic capacity of everyone participating in the political sphere.
A guide to detox your data
The content of the “Voter’s Guide” is based on the extensive research done by the Data and Politics Team of Tactical Tech and with members of more than 20 countries. This research team carried out the task of mapping the usage of technology and personal data to influence people’s political opinion during election season.
The world of political campaigns has become more and more complex and more data driven. Particularly, personal data generated by users of social media and technology. This data spreads beyond electoral rolls: everything, from the content of our trolley in our web shopping, the interaction of Facebook posts, to the cinema we choose to visit on a Friday night, can be used by political parties and politicians to put together a profile of the voting person and thereby influence its decisions.
The “Voter’s Guide” also explains in accessible terms where the political campaigns obtain personal data, what kind of data is collected, and how they are used to target and persuade voters. Moreover, the Guide reveals campaign techniques such as “digital listening”, “micro-targeting”, and “A/B testing”, offering voters 7 essential tips to detox their personal data:
TIP #1: Switch up your routine
TIP #2: Customize your social media preference
TIP #3: Lock down your mobile and desktop browsers
TIP #4: Stay informed
TIP #5: Limit who knows where you are
TIP #6: Speak up
TIP #7: Tell your community
With the help of these tips, every person can cast their vote knowing how and when these digital techniques are being used and what they can do to counter them.
Your data, Our democracy
As elections become more and more intensive and dependent on data, our personal data is becoming a political asset that is exploited by campaigns in search of electoral success and political power.
This didactic short video explains to every voting person some of the ways in which our personal data is used and alludes to the broader democratic consequences of the datification of politics.
What does the development of the influence industry mean for our democracies and what can we do about it?
The Voter’s Guide presented to journalists of the country’s main media
Within the framework of the 2022 Bootcamp “Elections and technopolitics”, we presented the “Voter’s Guide” to journalists members of different media outlets in the country: ABC Color, Última Hora, La Nación, GEN, Universo 970 AM, Ñanduti Radio, El Independiente, Made In Paraguay, and Sin Antena FM.
The presentation was in charge of Eduardo Carrillo, co-director of TEDIC and was accompanied by a practical explanation of resources, which was in charge of Leonardo Gomez, coordinator of democracy and technopolitics projects.
The journalists received the material both in physical and digital form.
About the project
The Voter’s guide is one of the resources of Tactical Tech’s Influence Industry project.
We invite you to meet, discover, and explore the resources that are part of this investigation on how our personal data is being used to influence the formation of a public opinion and the political decision making during election season.
Download the Voter’s Guide here
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