Big Data Technologies in Political Processes: Risks and Opportunities

Abstract

The article deals with various aspects related to the use of Big Data technologies in political processes. Digital technologies have an ambivalent impact on the social and political processes, creating the “grey zone” of opportunities and resources that are the subject of conflicts and competition among various political agents. This statement is equally true concerning election campaigns. Firstly, the author describes the concept of data-driven campaign, which is rapidly spreading due to the demand for flexible management mechanisms and the formation of the “attention economy”. The implementation of the concept includes processes of data mining and analysis, microtargeting — the article reveals the content of each stage on the example of recent cases. The essential advantage of using big data analysis in political processes is concluded not only in the scale of the data mining but also in the possibility to examine deep causal relationships and dependencies, which extends the range of opportunities to influence political agents behaviour. Secondly, it is possible to extrapolate mechanisms of data-driven campaign to the level of data-driven politics. The author formulates the major risks and threats associated with the use of Big Data in political processes: funnel of mistrust in political institutions and technologies, blurring political institutions and plebiscite democracy, the preservation and confidentiality of personal data, the consequences of algorithms cognitive restrictions. As a result, in the short term it will be relevant to provide institutional regulation of data using, as well as to support the development of human capital as the basic skills of personal data protection and the use of modern technologies.