A documentary for our times
The Great Hack isn't 100 percent accurate, but it needs to be seen
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Helmi Yusof
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NETFLIX'S NEW DOCUMENTARY The Great Hack explores how technology companies are using personal data and algorithms to manipulate how we think, feel and, most crucially, vote. But considering how the ethical discourse on technology has moved to facial recognition and artificial intelligence, much of what's explored here feels slightly dated and insufficient.
That said, The Great Hack needs to be seen, if only to remind ourselves how gullible we were when we completed Facebook personality tests to vaguely determine who we thought we were - and how gullible we continue to be when we use FaceApp to vaguely determine how we might age.
Directed by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, The Great Hack centres on three interviewees. The first is Brittany Kaiser, a young woman who formerly worked for Cambridge Analytica, a controversial UK-based consulting firm which harvested personal online data to create ads and messages that influence voting behaviour and electoral outcomes.
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