Directors Intent
The directors of the film were Karim Amer and Jahane Noujaim. They put a spotlight on how companies unethically collect data from millions of people. They reveal how this data is used to control various political worlds of many different countries, including the 2016 U.S. election.
Through various interviews with directors and the CEO of Cambridge Analytica and people following the scandal, the audience can have a diverse view of perspectives of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. They included footage of hearings of Mark Zuckerberg and former directors of Cambridge Analytica to get a clear scope of how they manipulated so many people to gain control of their political leadership. One interview was with Christopher Wylie, a whistleblower and former director of research at Cambridge Analytica. He went in-depth about the unethical ways Cambridge Analytica was able to take people’s data and shape society with it. He focused on how the company harvested data without people ever knowing and created profiles based on this data. He said, “it was a grossly unethical experiment.”It is clearly shown that even the people who were part of this scheme also saw the wrongdoing of Cambridge Analytica. The directors mentioned that individuals have no right to their data. Companies can buy and sell information on people, specifically targeting them. The tracking of this information is completely anonymous and it is nearly impossible to discover who has seen which particular advertisements. Humans have become the new commodity for companies, and individuals have little rights to protect them from commercial abuse. Co-founder of Facebook, Sean Parker once said“It’s a social-validation feedback loop … you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”, and this is no different for targeted advertisements and voting manipulation. Voters are being taken advantage of and targeted by large technology companies, manipulating these individuals behind the scenes [2]. Large companies have no regulation in terms of their data, and the manipulation of their data. Furthermore, director Karim Amer noted that these companies have no obligation to protecting the rights of democracy, and can sway the election for economic gain [3]. Overall the intent of the movie was to bring awareness to the role of technology companies in democracy, and the vulnerability they provide to the current election systems. The film takes a hard look at the ethics of big tech and how data is used to undermine democracies around the globe.
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[1] Blake, M. (2020, September 6). Directors of 'The Vow' want you to know NXIVM was not just a 'sex cult'. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-09-06/the-vow-nxivm-cult-directors.
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[2] Hasan, Z. (2019, August 1). Review: 'The Great Hack' will give you a sense of encroaching dread. Datebook. https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/review-the-great-hack-will-give-you-a-sense-of-encroaching-dread.
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[3] Sreenivasan, H. (2020, July 31). Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim on "The Great Hack". PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/karim-amer-and-jehane-noujaim-on-the-great-hack/.
