The Great Hack

Have you ever been talking to a friend about an event or something that you wanted to buy, and then later found an advertisement for the very thing you were discussing? The reason for this: data collection.

This film addresses the topic of data collection and one of the companies that did data collection, Cambridge Analytics.

Every credit card swipe, every online purchase, every "like" on social media, it all becomes pieces of data about you called data points. At one point Cambridge Analytics reported that they had 5,000 data points on every registered voter in America.

The movie shows that Cambridge Analytics worked on the Brexit campaign, the Trump Presidential campaign, and several other political campaigns throughout the world.

Not only was data mined and given to these campaigns, they also used the gathered information to target voters online. It was reported that over 50 million Facebook accounts were hacked into and targeted by ads and propaganda for the 2016 Presidential election.


The film makes the point that data mining is the most valued trade on the planet. It also shows that social media, which was intended to bring the world closer together, is now ripping it apart.

One of the most staggering thoughts in the film is the concept of a fair and impartial election. Can we ever have a fair and impartial election ever again?

The topic of mining data, data collection is all encompassing and staggering. After watching the film, I deleted all social media apps from my phone. It won't help the data already received; still, it will produce less data points for me.

I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. Now streaming on Netflix, "The Great Hack", 5 stars.