TED2019
Carole Cadwalladr: Facebook's role in Brexit -- and the threat to democracy
Filmed:
Readability: 4.1
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In an unmissable talk, journalist Carole Cadwalladr digs into one of the most perplexing events in recent times: the UK's super-close 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Tracking the result to a barrage of misleading Facebook ads targeted at vulnerable Brexit swing voters -- and linking the same players and tactics to the 2016 US presidential election -- Cadwalladr calls out the "gods of Silicon Valley" for being on the wrong side of history and asks: Are free and fair elections a thing of the past?
Carole Cadwalladr - Investigative journalist
Carole Cadwalladr is a British investigative journalist and features writer. Full bio
Carole Cadwalladr is a British investigative journalist and features writer. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
So, on the day after the Brexit vote,
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in June 2016,
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when Britain woke up to the shock
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of discovering that we're leaving
the European Union,
the European Union,
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my editor at the "Observer"
newspaper in the UK
newspaper in the UK
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asked me to go back to South Wales,
where I grew up, and to write a report.
where I grew up, and to write a report.
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And so I went to a town called Ebbw Vale.
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Here it is.
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It's in the South Wales Valleys,
which is this quite special place.
which is this quite special place.
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So it's had this very, sort of rich,
working-class culture,
working-class culture,
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and it's famous for its Welsh
male voice choirs and rugby and its coal.
male voice choirs and rugby and its coal.
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But when I was a teenager,
the coal mines and the steelworks closed,
the coal mines and the steelworks closed,
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and the entire area was devastated.
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And I went there because it had one of
the highest "Leave" votes in the country.
the highest "Leave" votes in the country.
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Sixty-two percent of the people here
voted to leave the European Union.
voted to leave the European Union.
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And I wanted to know why.
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When I got there,
I was just a bit taken aback,
I was just a bit taken aback,
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because the last time I went to Ebbw Vale,
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it looked like this.
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And now, it looks like this.
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This is a new 33-million-pound
college of further education
college of further education
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that was mostly funded
by the European Union.
by the European Union.
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And this is the new sports center
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that's at the middle of 350-million-pound
regeneration project
regeneration project
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that's being funded by the European Union.
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And this is the new 77-million-pound
road-improvement scheme,
road-improvement scheme,
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and there's a new train line,
a new railway station,
a new railway station,
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and they're all being funded
by the European Union.
by the European Union.
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And it's not as if
any of this is a secret,
any of this is a secret,
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because there's big signs
like this everywhere.
like this everywhere.
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[EU Funds: Investing in Wales]
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(Laughter)
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I had this sort of
weird sense of unreality,
weird sense of unreality,
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walking around the town.
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And it came to a head
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when I met this young man
in front of the sports center.
in front of the sports center.
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And he told me that he had voted to leave,
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because the European Union
had done nothing for him.
had done nothing for him.
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He was fed up with it.
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And all around town,
people told me the same thing.
people told me the same thing.
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They said that they wanted
to take back control,
to take back control,
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which was one of the slogans
in the campaign.
in the campaign.
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And they told me
that they were most fed up
that they were most fed up
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with the immigrants and with the refugees.
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They'd had enough.
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Which was odd.
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Because walking around,
I didn't meet any immigrants or refugees.
I didn't meet any immigrants or refugees.
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I met one Polish woman who told me
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she was practically
the only foreigner in town.
the only foreigner in town.
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And when I checked the figures,
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I discovered that Ebbw Vale actually has
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one of the lowest rates
of immigration in the country.
of immigration in the country.
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And so I was just a bit baffled,
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because I couldn't really understand
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where people were getting
their information from.
their information from.
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Because it was the right-wing
tabloid newspapers
tabloid newspapers
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which printed all these stories
about immigration.
about immigration.
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And this is a very much
left-wing Labour stronghold.
left-wing Labour stronghold.
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But then after the article came out,
this woman got in touch with me.
this woman got in touch with me.
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And she was from Ebbw Vale,
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and she told me about all this stuff
that she'd seen on Facebook.
that she'd seen on Facebook.
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I was like, "What stuff?"
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And she said it was all this quite scary
stuff about immigration,
stuff about immigration,
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and especially about Turkey.
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So I tried to find it.
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But there was nothing there.
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Because there's no archive
of ads that people had seen
of ads that people had seen
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or what had been pushed
into their news feeds.
into their news feeds.
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No trace of anything,
gone completely dark.
gone completely dark.
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And this referendum that will have
this profound effect forever on Britain --
this profound effect forever on Britain --
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it's already had a profound effect:
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the Japanese car manufacturers
that came to Wales and the north east
that came to Wales and the north east
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to replace the mining jobs --
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they are already going because of Brexit.
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And this entire referendum
took place in darkness,
took place in darkness,
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because it took place on Facebook.
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And what happens on Facebook
stays on Facebook,
stays on Facebook,
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because only you see your news feed,
and then it vanishes,
and then it vanishes,
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so it's impossible to research anything.
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So we have no idea who saw what ads
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or what impact they had,
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or what data was used
to target these people.
to target these people.
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Or even who placed the ads,
or how much money was spent,
or how much money was spent,
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or even what nationality they were.
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But Facebook does.
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Facebook has these answers,
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and it's refused to give them to us.
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Our parliament has asked Mark Zuckerberg
multiple times to come to Britain
multiple times to come to Britain
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and to give us these answers.
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And every single time, he's refused.
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And you have to wonder why.
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Because what I and other
journalists have uncovered
journalists have uncovered
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is that multiple crimes
took place during the referendum.
took place during the referendum.
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And they took place on Facebook.
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It's because in Britain,
we limit the amount of money
we limit the amount of money
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that you can spend in an election.
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And it's because in the 19th century,
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people would walk around
with literally wheelbarrows of cash
with literally wheelbarrows of cash
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and just buy voters.
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So we passed these strict laws
to stop that from happening.
to stop that from happening.
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But those laws don't work anymore.
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This referendum took place
almost entirely online.
almost entirely online.
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And you can spend any amount of money
on Facebook or on Google or on YouTube ads
on Facebook or on Google or on YouTube ads
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and nobody will know,
because they're black boxes.
because they're black boxes.
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And this is what happened.
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We've actually got no idea
of the full extent of it.
of the full extent of it.
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But we do know that in the last days
before the Brexit vote,
before the Brexit vote,
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the official "Vote Leave" campaign
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laundered nearly three quarters
of a million pounds
of a million pounds
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through another campaign entity
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that our electoral commission
has ruled was illegal,
has ruled was illegal,
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and it's referred it to the police.
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And with this illegal cash,
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"Vote Leave" unleashed
a fire hose of disinformation.
a fire hose of disinformation.
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Ads like this.
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[Turkey's 76m people joining the EU]
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This is a lie, it's a total lie.
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Turkey is not joining the European Union.
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There's not even any discussions
of it joining the European Union.
of it joining the European Union.
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And most of us, we never saw these ads,
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because we were not the target of them.
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"Vote Leave" identified
a tiny sliver of people
a tiny sliver of people
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who it identified as persuadable,
and they saw them.
and they saw them.
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And the only reason
we are seeing these now
we are seeing these now
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is because parliament forced
Facebook to hand them over.
Facebook to hand them over.
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And maybe you think,
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"Well, it was just a bit of overspending.
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It's a few lies."
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But this was the biggest electoral fraud
in Britain for 100 years.
in Britain for 100 years.
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In a once-in-a-generation vote
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that hinged upon just
one percent of the electorate.
one percent of the electorate.
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And it was just one of the crimes
that took place in the referendum.
that took place in the referendum.
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There was another group,
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which was headed
by this man, Nigel Farage,
by this man, Nigel Farage,
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the one to the right of Trump.
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And his group, "Leave.EU" --
it also broke the law.
it also broke the law.
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It broke British electoral laws
and British data laws,
and British data laws,
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and it's also being
referred to the police.
referred to the police.
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And this man, Arron Banks,
he funded this campaign.
he funded this campaign.
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And in a completely separate case,
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he's being referred
to our National Crime Agency,
to our National Crime Agency,
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our equivalent of the FBI,
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because our electoral commission
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has concluded they don't know
where his money came from.
where his money came from.
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Or if it was even British.
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And I'm not even going to go into
the lies that Arron Banks has told
the lies that Arron Banks has told
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about his covert relationship
with the Russian government.
with the Russian government.
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Or the weird timing of Nigel Farage's
meetings with Julian Assange
meetings with Julian Assange
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and with Trump's buddy,
Roger Stone, now indicted,
Roger Stone, now indicted,
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immediately before
two massive WikiLeaks dumps,
two massive WikiLeaks dumps,
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both of which happened
to benefit Donald Trump.
to benefit Donald Trump.
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But I will tell you that Brexit
and Trump were intimately entwined.
and Trump were intimately entwined.
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This man told me that Brexit
was the petri dish for Trump.
was the petri dish for Trump.
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And we know it's the same people,
the same companies,
the same companies,
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the same data, the same techniques,
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the same use of hate and fear.
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This is what they
were posting on Facebook.
were posting on Facebook.
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And I don't even want to call this a lie,
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[Immigration without assimilation
equals invasion]
equals invasion]
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because it feels more
like a hate crime to me.
like a hate crime to me.
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I don't have to tell you
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that hate and fear are being sown online
all across the world.
all across the world.
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Not just in Britain and America,
but in France and in Hungary
but in France and in Hungary
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and Brazil and Myanmar and New Zealand.
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And we know there is this dark undertow
which is connecting us all globally.
which is connecting us all globally.
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And it is flowing
via the technology platforms.
via the technology platforms.
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But we only see a tiny amount
of what's going on on the surface.
of what's going on on the surface.
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And I only found out anything
about this dark underbelly
about this dark underbelly
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because I started looking into
Trump's relationship to Farage,
Trump's relationship to Farage,
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into a company called Cambridge Analytica.
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And I spent months tracking down
an ex-employee, Christopher Wiley.
an ex-employee, Christopher Wiley.
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And he told me how this company,
that worked for both Trump and Brexit,
that worked for both Trump and Brexit,
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had profiled people politically
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in order to understand
their individual fears,
their individual fears,
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to better target them with Facebook ads.
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And it did this by illicitly
harvesting the profiles
harvesting the profiles
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of 87 million people from Facebook.
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It took an entire year's work
to get Christopher on the record.
to get Christopher on the record.
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And I had to turn myself
from a feature writer
from a feature writer
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into an investigative reporter to do it.
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And he was extraordinarily brave,
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because the company
is owned by Robert Mercer,
is owned by Robert Mercer,
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the billionaire who bankrolled Trump,
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and he threatened
to sue us multiple times,
to sue us multiple times,
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to stop us from publishing.
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But we finally got there,
and we were one day ahead of publication.
and we were one day ahead of publication.
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We got another legal threat.
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Not from Cambridge Analytica this time,
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but from Facebook.
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It told us that if we publish,
they would sue us.
they would sue us.
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We did it anyway.
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(Applause)
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Facebook, you were
on the wrong side of history in that.
on the wrong side of history in that.
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And you were on the wrong side
of history in this --
of history in this --
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in refusing to give us
the answers that we need.
the answers that we need.
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And that is why I am here.
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To address you directly,
the gods of Silicon Valley.
the gods of Silicon Valley.
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(Applause)
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Mark Zuckerberg ...
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(Applause)
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and Sheryl Sandberg and Larry Page
and Sergey Brin and Jack Dorsey,
and Sergey Brin and Jack Dorsey,
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and your employees
and your investors, too.
and your investors, too.
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Because 100 years ago,
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the biggest danger in the South Wales
coal mines was gas.
coal mines was gas.
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Silent and deadly and invisible.
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It's why they sent the canaries
down first to check the air.
down first to check the air.
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And in this massive, global, online
experiment that we are all living through,
experiment that we are all living through,
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we in Britain are the canary.
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We are what happens to a western democracy
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when a hundred years of electoral laws
are disrupted by technology.
are disrupted by technology.
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Our democracy is broken,
our laws don't work anymore,
our laws don't work anymore,
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and it's not me saying this,
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it's our parliament published
a report saying this.
a report saying this.
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This technology that you have
invented has been amazing.
invented has been amazing.
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But now, it's a crime scene.
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And you have the evidence.
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And it is not enough to say
that you will do better in the future.
that you will do better in the future.
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Because to have any hope
of stopping this from happening again,
of stopping this from happening again,
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we have to know the truth.
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And maybe you think,
"Well, it was just a few ads.
"Well, it was just a few ads.
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And people are smarter than that, right?"
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To which I would say,
"Good luck with that."
"Good luck with that."
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Because what the Brexit vote demonstrates
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is that liberal democracy is broken.
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And you broke it.
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This is not democracy --
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spreading lies in darkness,
paid for with illegal cash,
paid for with illegal cash,
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from God knows where.
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It's subversion,
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and you are accessories to it.
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(Applause)
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Our parliament has been
the first in the world
the first in the world
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to try to hold you to account,
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and it's failed.
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You are literally beyond the reach
of British law -- not just British laws,
of British law -- not just British laws,
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this is nine parliaments,
nine countries are represented here,
nine countries are represented here,
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who Mark Zuckerberg refused
to come and give evidence to.
to come and give evidence to.
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And what you don't seem to understand
is that this is bigger than you.
is that this is bigger than you.
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And it's bigger than any of us.
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And it is not about left or right
or "Leave" or "Remain" or Trump or not.
or "Leave" or "Remain" or Trump or not.
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It's about whether it's actually possible
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to have a free and fair
election ever again.
election ever again.
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Because as it stands, I don't think it is.
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And so my question to you is,
is this what you want?
is this what you want?
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Is this how you want
history to remember you:
history to remember you:
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as the handmaidens to authoritarianism
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that is on the rise all across the world?
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Because you set out to connect people.
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And you are refusing to acknowledge
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that the same technology
is now driving us apart.
is now driving us apart.
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And my question to everybody else is,
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is this what we want:
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to let them get away with it,
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and to sit back and play with our phones,
as this darkness falls?
as this darkness falls?
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The history of the South Wales Valleys
is of a fight for rights.
is of a fight for rights.
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And this is not a drill --
it's a point of inflection.
it's a point of inflection.
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Democracy is not guaranteed,
and it is not inevitable,
and it is not inevitable,
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and we have to fight and we have to win
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and we cannot let these tech companies
have this unchecked power.
have this unchecked power.
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It's up to us -- you, me and all of us.
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We are the ones
who have to take back control.
who have to take back control.
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(Applause)
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(Cheers)
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carole Cadwalladr - Investigative journalistCarole Cadwalladr is a British investigative journalist and features writer.
Why you should listen
Carole Cadwalladr is a journalist for the Guardian and Observer in the United Kingdom. She worked for a year with whistleblower Christopher Wylie to publish her investigation into Cambridge Analytica, which she shared with the New York Times. The investigation resulted in Mark Zuckerberg being called before Congress and Facebook losing more than $100 billion from its share price. She has also uncovered multiple crimes committed during the European referendum and evidence of Russian interference in Brexit. Her work has won a Polk Award and the Orwell Prize for political journalism, and she was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for National Reporting in 2019. Of her award-winning work, judge Sir David Bell wrote: She "deserves high praise for the quality of her research and for her determination to shed fierce light on a story which seems by no means over yet. Orwell would have loved it."
Carole Cadwalladr | Speaker | TED.com