Targeted: My Inside Story of Cambridge Analytica and How Trump, Brexit and Facebook Broke Democracy

Targeted: My Inside Story of Cambridge Analytica and How Trump, Brexit and Facebook Broke Democracy
Brittany Kaiser

In this explosive memoir, a political consultant and technology whistleblower reveals the disturbing truth about the multi-billion-dollar data industry, revealing to the public how companies are getting richer using our personal information and exposing how Cambridge Analytica exploited weaknesses in privacy laws to help elect Donald Trump. When Brittany Kaiser joined Cambridge Analytica – the UK-based political consulting firm funded by conservative billionaire and Donald Trump patron Robert Mercer – she was an idealistic young professional working on her fourth degree in human rights law and international relations. A veteran of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, Kaiser’s goal was to utilize data for humanitarian purposes, most notably to prevent genocide and human rights abuses. But her experience inside Cambridge Analytica opened her eyes to the tremendous risks that this unregulated industry poses to privacy and democracy. Targeted is Kaiser’s eyewitness chronicle of the dramatic and disturbing story of the rise and fall of Cambridge Analytica. She reveals to the public how Facebook’s lax policies and lack of sufficient national laws allowed voters to be manipulated in both Britain and the United States, where personal data was weaponised to spread fake news and racist messaging during the Brexit vote and the 2016 election. But the damage isn’t done Kaiser warns; the 2020 election can be compromised as well if we continue to do nothing. In the aftermath of the U. S. election, as she became aware of the horrifying reality of what Cambridge Analytica had done in support of Donald Trump, Kaiser made the difficult choice to expose the truth. Risking her career, relationships, and personal safety, she told authorities about the data industry’s unethical business practices, eventually testifying before Parliament. Packed with never-before-publicly-told stories, Targeted goes inside the secretive meetings with Trump campaign personnel and details the promises Cambridge Analytica made to win. Throughout, Kaiser makes the case for regulation, arguing that legal oversight of the data industry is not only justifiable but essential to ensuring the long-term safety of our democracy.

Copyright (#ulink_b26d00c5-377a-5d1c-a4e0-570bd7949b66)

The names of some characters have been changed to protect their privacy.

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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

FIRST EDITION

© Brittany Kaiser 2019

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Cover photograph © Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

All photographs courtesy of the author unless marked otherwise

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Brittany Kaiser asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780008363895

Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008363918

Version 2019-10-16

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Dedication (#ulink_d238c328-0ab7-51c8-9ec6-3aaac5c329ea)

To the Truth:

May it set us all free.

Contents

Cover (#uc600d0dd-9df7-5cd6-8298-d5abc1d75904)

Title Page (#u2af7a5e2-ee7d-5858-9b42-d67d75dc6316)

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

1 A Late Lunch

2 Crossing Over

3 Power in Nigeria

4 Davos

5 Terms and Conditions

6 Meetings and Reunions

7 The Face of Brexit

8 Facebook

9 Persuasion

10 Under the Influence

11 Brexit Brittany

12 Straitjacket

13 Postmortem

14 Bombs

15 Quake

16 Breakup

17 Inquiry

18 Restart