It is far from easy to separate fact from fiction when it comes to recent allegations about the effect that big data may have had on Caribbean democracy. This is because it is difficult to determine whether the harvesting and use of personal information by Cambridge Analytica, Aggregate IQ and others can be shown to have had a specific impact on electoral outcomes.
The suggestion is that several international consulting firms involved in what is euphemistically described as ‘strategic communications for the electoral process’ have been involved in developing campaigns for clients based on detailed voter profiles obtained from multiple sources including Facebook.
Reports in the European and the North American media indicate that such entities have supported governments and opposition parties internationally, including some in the Caribbean to win elections, discredit opponents, and to influence outcomes through campaigns that encourage a visceral voter reaction.