Big Data Companies and Elections: Perpetuating Populism in Kenya and Nigeria, a Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

Following the scandal of Cambridge Analytica in certain Western elections, several questions were raised about the effect of harvesting personal data on individual political choices. In this vein, the SCL group targeted millions of profiles with fake news and disturbing images about the country’s political future. It was noticeable that the strategy of raising fear about the future gave birth to and supported the populist narratives remarkably, especially in the 2016 US and Brexit elections in the UK. On the other hand, the SCL groups worked tirelessly in fostering and sophisticating their strategies in certain African countries, mainly Nigeria and Kenya. Although the strategies of the SCL group didn’t succeed in achieving similar scenarios like in Western countries, the populist movements in Africa realized the importance of digital means in perpetuating the populist political narrative. We tend to argue through this article the importance of understanding this new phenomenon and how it can disturb all notions of free will and equal right to choose that the modern state was established for. We tend to argue that these companies, in a context of the neoliberal era, don’t hesitate to eradicate the values of democracy and consider the political landscape as a space of business. Moreover, the question of manipulating the public by harvesting big data might be a real issue, especially in countries that can be considered fragile states, where the legal framework for detecting such deeds seems primitive.