Hunting for Voters. The Impact of Data-Driven Campaigning on Democracy

Persuading voters is at the heart of any political campaign. Advances in technology are offering new opportunities for candidates to reach out to voters. Political campaigns today are combining data-driven voter research with personalised political advertising and using online microtargeting techniques. In this context, the ERC-funded HUNTING project will explore whether these techniques are a threat to democracy. It will study the effects of data-driven microtargeting and digital persuasion to identify under which conditions and to what extent they affect citizens’ attitudes, opinions and vote decisions. Using a mix of research methods and taking a comparative perspective, the project will assess the benefits and risks.