Every internet user worldwide is part of this huge network. He leaves a footprint every second. Which sites you visit, which posts you like and follow on social media, your shopping preferences and much more are processed in countless data libraries.

All your personal data on the internet has been used by the political circle in any country for many years. It is no exaggeration to say that your data also shapes the world of politics. Starting from the core of the company, from the purposes of use to where your data is obtained and how it is processed. we tell everything.

Possible usage scenarios of your data by politicians:

• Creating the demographics of citizens on the internet
• Determine in advance what citizens tend to do
• Determining the topics to put on the agenda in any environment, regardless of rally or social media
• Plan how to communicate these issues with discourse
• Learning real-time reflection of every discourse and every action taken
• Analyzing interests and opinions of competitors’ supporters
• Predicting the possible reflection of every sentence to be uttered in every environment in society
• Creating audience- and platform-specific advertisements through targeted advertising

Since the task is to address the whole country, the uses are of course not limited to these. Citizens including their dependence on opinions and parties, how open they are to changing their mind, the background and orientations of a person applying to the party. with this data many details can be revealed.

“How is that possible?” Let’s start with the basic question for those who say: how is the data obtained?

In order to make the above and many more possible applications a reality, it is of course necessary in the first place to have data. Agree, How does this data get into the hands of politicians? The answer to this question is not limited to one place.

Customs officer of the internet “cookies”:

If you log in to Webtekno.com or any domestic/foreign website today, you will see a message. ‘cookies’ window appears. While cookies are specific to the website you are visiting, they may also belong to third party services on the same pages.

Although the cookies associated with the websites vary depending on the site, they are mostly used by the sites, such as security, search, login. operation of critical functions. offers. Again, depending on the website, especially in e-commerce platforms, every click, every mouse movement, every product you visit is recorded through these cookies.

Third-party cookies, on the other hand, are cookies that are integrated with the website you are visiting, but do not cover the site’s functions. These cookies are usually yours, not just on a website. your activities across all websites. is recording.

Third party cookies, commonly used by websites to third-party advertising and content services it belongs. The Google advertising section on most websites is formed by these cookies and you will see special advertisements.

In fact, most of the data library is created by these third party cookies. As an individual, you may be underestimating the impact of clicking on a product or content. But data from hundreds of thousands of people like you creates a huge library, categorizes and identifies people.

We will talk about this process later. Now let’s close this section with: Any website, In accordance with laws such as Chamber of Commerce and AVG It must clearly state the purpose of using cookies and obtain visitor consent for their use. You can see an example of this on Webtekno.com as follows:

Social Media Platforms:

When you visit a website, join social media platforms and interact on these platforms, not a dime comes out of your pocket. However, let us remind you that the main purpose of any platform is “people have fun, kill time” no. Everything has a price.

By creating an account on social media, you can provide your name, surname, email address, telephone number, address, age, place of birth; You reveal your interests with an innocent like, your opinion with an innocent comment, and your goal and ideal with an innocent share. Each of these actions and many more are recorded by the platforms.

Social media platforms also earn money this way. It sells and trades non-sensitive user data collected by you to organizations for purposes such as analytics and advertising.

How big is social media data and how does it shape the political environment? Cambridge Analytica – in the example of Facebook we have seen.

In summary, the data obtained without consent from Facebook users was processed by the analytics company Cambridge Analytica and used for Donald Trump’s election campaign. You can learn the details from the content at the end of our article.

Any service on the internet can also sell your data:

The internet is not just an environment limited to social media and sites. Campaigns and interest in your email addresses, surveys you complete, donations you make, subscriptions you’re a member of, and much more. to cumulative databases will be added.

Imagine a world where data is sold, here you are:

In Turkey, which has a population of 84 million, according to ICT data, 74% of the population are internet users. If worldwide, this number 5.16 billion. You are a grain of sand in 64.4% of all humanity.

Databases contain every piece of information of these 5.16 billion users. Where we live, what food we like, what famous names we follow, what attitudes we hold… Moreover, this data is updated every second!

We once again remembered the greatness of the Internet, now let’s move on to the next stage.

So, how is “meaning” extracted from the collected data, in other words, how is the data processed?

Clicks, likes, comments, shares, the sites you visit, the channels you join. All of these taken on their own do not offer much insight into a person or society. Therefore, Thousands of analytics companies love Cambridge Analytica established. (Of course, we should mention that Cambridge was closed after the scandal.)

Analytics companies add meaning to the data with special algorithms they have developed or purchased from another company. These algorithms are, in a very simple way, “If the person likes and follows this, but also browses these products and buys these books, that’s their opinion.” say.

Here are the same analytics companies, the processed data, where people are identified and categorized according to each scenario, by political parties and those that are partnered with. advertising agencies and other organizations sale.

Similarly, parties or intermediaries can send their special requests to analytics companies and allow algorithms to provide them with specific data. For example, voters are categorized according to their opinion, using artificial intelligence Campaign suggestions can also be submitted.

A campaign is being developed that aims to increase support in line with voter identities obtained from analytics firms. Ads are created in the context of this campaign, Through Google Ads and scientific advertising services These ads are shown to the targeted people on the right websites, at the right date and time interval determined by the data.

Data is also obtained from paid advertisements. What types of users click on these ads, which audience shows the most interest, and at what hour they get more feedback…

Of course, ads are just one use case. You can imagine the same and similar process for all the use cases we mentioned at the beginning of our article.

Will all this effort succeed in Turkey?

“Published by Ahmet Tan and Barış Armutçu”Digital political marketing in Turkeyresearch provides a clear answer to this question. The study, which also examines the 2018 presidential election, yields the following result:

“It is clear that political parties and party leaders have an advantage over other political parties and party leaders in election campaigns where they use political marketing and digital marketing elements effectively.”

“Can I prevent my data from being used?”

Let’s face it: no, if you use the internet. Even if you don’t useEven a friend or family member can be enough to transfer your data to the Internet.

All the details on the Cambridge Analytica scandal:

Political accounts that spend the most money on ads on Facebook and Instagram:

Sources:

• ITU (International Telecommunication Union), ICT Regulatory Tracker.
• Reuters, “How Political Campaigns Use Your Data”.
• The Atlantic, “How politicians can use big data to win elections”.
• Ahmet Tan, Barış Armutçu, “Digital Political Marketing in Turkey”.