Propaganda for a new age

28 March 2018

Social media has been weaponised by powerful entities.

This is the role that Cambridge Analytica is alleged to have played in the formation of people's opinions.

It is now entirely possible to change mass opinion for a price.

Propaganda has evolved into an algorithm which - for any desired effect - can identify:

1) which people it would be most useful to influence - 'swing voters'
2) based upon the data they have about each individual 'swing voter', what information (true OR false) would most likely sway that individual's opinion
3) how best to frame that information - a cute kitten, a shocking statistic, a patriotic image - whatever that individual has been most responsive to (as per the myriad data they have about each individual).

This is propaganda for a new age.

Not one billboard or TV ad that we all see, but rather one each - a Goebbels for every individual voter.

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See Cambridge Analytica is what happens when you privatise military propaganda

THE SCIENCE BEHIND OUR STRATEGY

(archived from Goddard Gunster)

20 November 2015

After our press conference on Wednesday some of you asked for more information about our strategy towards the referendum so we thought we’d explain a few things.

Referendums are not elections. In an election, voters choose a person to represent them (even if you only vote for them because you agree with their party’s stance on certain issues), referendums on the other hand are votes based on a specific issue. As a nation, we have only had two in the last 50 years!

On the ballot paper there will be no politicians, celebrities or businesses. There will be one question, with two answers – 'Leave' or 'Remain'.

This is why we will be putting the issues front and centre and we’ve hired the best people in the world to help us make sure those messages are delivered by the right messenger and to the right voters.

Cambridge Analytica are world leaders in target voter messaging. They will be helping us map the British electorate and what they believe in, enabling us to better engage with voters. Most elections are fought using demographic and socio-economic data. Cambridge Analytica’s psychographic methodology however is on another level of sophistication.

While Cambridge Analytica will be helping with the data, Goddard Gunster, who have fought some of the most contentious referendum campaigns all over the world (with a success rate of over 90%) will be helping us turn that data into a comprehensive strategy. Working alongside them will be Ian Warren, an expert on the issues that matter to people on lower incomes.

After all, Leave.EU is the people's campaign, no voter should be left behind. This campaign is about the message, not the personality, as is so often the case with general elections. This is a referendum, and not any referendum. Britain's membership of the EU affects her people in many different ways. That is why we believe the best people to persuade undecided voters are those in the field who know best, the destructive effect of the EU, and what Britain can achieve outside of it.

If you missed our press conference on Wednesday, you can watch it here.