ABSTRACT
Every Thursday night in the United Kingdom, millions of viewers tune in to one of the BBC’s flagship programmes, Question Time. Hosted by veteran TV presenter David Dimbleby, the format gives audience members the rare opportunity to directly engage with politicians across all sides of the political spectrum. Social media amplified emotionally charged and frequently populist views that helped shape campaigns playing on irrational fears over immigration more so than reasoned and sober political debate. The London-based data company has long boasted that its highly complex algorithms developed have enabled it to strategically target undecided voters with content tailored to what their Facebook profiles reveal about them and their innermost thoughts – but crucially, without their knowledge or informed consent. Trump’s election win in late 2016, the term “fake news” has become ubiquitous, and academic scholarship on the issue has concerned itself with its potentially debilitating impact on a healthy democratic culture.
