Journalist Carole Cadwalladr’s famous TED Talk, “Facebook’s role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy,” delivered in 2019, exposed how data harvesting and targeted Facebook ads, similar to those used in the US election, influenced the UK’s EU referendum, questioning the future of fair elections and criticizing Silicon Valley’s unchecked power over democracy, though parts were later edited due to legal issues in a libel case, notes this Guardian article and the Irish Legal News article.
Key aspects of the talk:
- Focus: The talk linked the same data-driven tactics used by Cambridge Analytica in the US election to the Brexit campaign.
- Core Message: Cadwalladr argued that Facebook had become a “crime scene” for subverting democracy, allowing micro-targeted misinformation to sway voters.
- Impact: It generated significant discussion and controversy, leading to a libel case by Brexit backer Arron Banks against Cadwalladr, which she ultimately won in the High Court, though parts of the talk were edited for legal reasons.
- Warning: She warned that traditional electoral laws were inadequate for the digital age, posing a threat to free and fair elections globally.
To watch or learn more:
- You can find the talk on the TED website or YouTube, though it may have edits.
- Her subsequent work and reflections on the topic can be found in articles like “This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like” in The Guardian.
Previous talk was 2019
This link is 2025
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10 Apr 2025 #TED#TEDTalks#Politics
“We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start,” says investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr. In a searing talk, she decries the rise of the “broligarchy” — the powerful tech executives who are using their global digital platforms to amass unprecedented geopolitical power, dismantling democracy and enabling authoritarian control across the world. Her rallying cry: resist data harvesting and mass surveillance, and support others in a groundswell of digital disobedience. “You have more power than you think,” she says.
(Recorded at TED2025 on April 8, 2025) If you love watching TED Talks like this one, become a TED Member to support our mission of spreading ideas: https://ted.com/membership
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