In 2016 two seminal events occurred that public polling said were highly unlikely: the UK voted to leave the European Union, or Brexit; and the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President. 'How did that happen?', millions asked. Well, big data happened and was exploited, private information which should never have been shared was purchased or stolen, and in close elections, just moving the needle a few percent here, a few percent there was all it took to pull off these criminal acts.

In my opinion, in a functioning Democracy, steps would already have been taken to break up Facebook, in an effort to stop events like these ever occurring again. The fact that this hasn't happened suggests we live in a Corporatocracy instead.

The Great Hack is required viewing for anyone who wants to make sense of what went down and why. Highly recommended.

Source: The Daily Beast

Premiering on Netflix and in select theaters on July 24, The Great Hack is the most enraging, terrifying and—I don’t use this term lightly—important documentary of the year. Directed by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim (The Square), its subject is the Cambridge Analytica data scandal—a story that’s galling on the surface, and infinitely more bone-chilling when one considers its far-reaching ramifications. That’s because Cambridge Analytica’s deceptive and criminal relationship with, and conduct on, Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platform had world-altering consequences: helping launch the Brexit movement, and successfully aiding the election campaign of Donald Trump. It was the opening of Pandora’s Box, and as reporter Paul Hilder opines, “some things get broken and stay broken.”