US 2020: Is a Free and Fair Election Possible in the Social Media Age?

In 2018 it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a company with links to the Trump campaign and Leave.EU, harvested the profiles of up to 87 million Facebook users in the biggest data breach in modern history. The Emmy-nominated documentary, The Great Hack, explored how this data was used to target US voters with personal political advertisements, and exposed the chilling implications for the Brexit vote and the 2016 elections. In the wake of the scandal, an under pressure Mark Zuckerberg was summoned to testify before Congress over Facebook’s use of data, admitting mistakes and pledging to “fix” the problems. But what has changed?

As we count down to the US 2020 election, we look at how the campaigns are being fought online. In what ways does our divisive social media landscape enable the spread of false information? When the President himself has been found to post incendiary or false statements, what is the responsibility of the social media giants to safeguard a free and fair democratic process? Are they doing enough? Is a free and fair US election possible?

Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr broke the Cambridge Analytica story. Join her for a discussion with Karim Amer, director of The Great Hack; Roger McNamee, early Facebook investor and founder of #StopHateForProfit; Yael Eisenstat, former CIA officer and national security advisor to the White House and Ben Jealous, President of People for the American Way.