Once you’ve watched Brexit: The Uncivil War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, you may never enter a Facebook ad contest again. In the movie, based loosely on real events around Brexit, Facebook ads are an important tool in the hands of the dark artists who helped cyber-engineer the referendum victory for the Leave side in Britain’s 2016 referendum on the European Union. Cumberbatch plays the part of Leave campaign director Dominic Cummings — in real life, now a chief adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who sets up a sophisticated digital campaign to reach disengaged, disgruntled citizens. One method includes mining personal data from unsuspecting voters using a bogus British-football-themed contest, in which everyone who clicks to enter the contest also hands over their valuable Facebook information to the Leave campaign. It’s a very good movie for Canadians to watch as we’re about to head into an election campaign.While the movie is part fiction, anyone who has been following the news over the past few years, especially the scandal over Cambridge Analytica and its role in Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory, will recognize the warning flags raised by the film. It may not be news that social media can be used for nefarious political purposes in the heat of electoral campaigns, but citizens can’t be reminded often enough that Facebook is a medium that not only sends information to its audience, but gathers it as well. Facebook, to be fair, has put in place a lot more transparency measures since Brexit and Cambridge Analytica, including an advertising library that allows you to see the who, what, when and how much behind election ads elbowing their way into your Facebook stream. For instance, when I checked the library on Monday, I learned that the Liberal Party of Canada has spent $242,426 on Facebook ads since June. I could also click on individual ads to see where they were targeted. One, featuring a cap ...
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