"We have a propaganda machine. Targets people individually in order to convince them to join an idea. It's a level of unparalleled social engineering. The machine manages to catch people in an emotional trap where they can not escape "- Prof. Jonathan Albright
According to an article in "Das Magazine", only 10 likes are needed to "know" a man better than his work colleagues, 70 likes to know the person better than a friend, and with 150 Likes, better than his parents.
Cambridge Analytica contributed tremendously to Donald Trump's victory in the election, the victory of Brexit's "Leave" campaign, and the rise of Ted Cruz's campaign in 2016. The company is owned and controlled by conservative members of the "alt-right" movement, which have strong connections with the Trump administration (Steven Bannon, Trump's Head of Trump at the White House is a member of the CA board).
For Analytica, feedback is instant and the answer comes automatically. This undecided voter has clicked on an advertisement that attacks Hillary Clinton on her negligence with email servers? Yes? Can we give him even more news on the notion of personal failure and responsibility? Not? Then the automated script will make another news that will capitalize on another personality trait, such as the tendency of a voter to respond positively to people with authority, generating the title "Secret Service Representatives Agree: Clinton's Email Endangering national security. "
Receiving generous funding from wealthy American conservative groups, Analytica has gathered data on people's commercial habits, the most frequented stores, the magazines people subscribe to, which churches they go, how much land they hold, etc. (Information obtained from various organizations selling data about their customers). Analytica combined this information with Facebook and built a rich psychological profile for many people (there is a profile for almost all 220 million citizens with over 5,000 data points for each).