The Great Hack: Film Review

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Facebook, testifies before congress following the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018.

The Great Hack, directed by Karim Amer and Jahane Noujain, is a documentary divulging the involvement of Cambridge Analytica in data-mining and targeted marketing in the 2016 United States election.

The film follows several “main” figures, including Brittany Kaiser, Christopher Wylie and David Carroll, as they follow the push and pull of political and social turmoil, and the rise and ultimate fall of Cambridge Analytica in the eyes of the media and public.

The Great Hack is an interesting watch for students interested in advertising, marketing or media, as the main protagonists butt heads with one of the most successful and influential political consulting firms in the world at the time. The film raises questions about the ethics and effectiveness of targeted marketing, and whether an effective campaign is enough to inhibit voters’ individual jurisdiction when their personal information is used in the campaign’s development.

Viewers are taken through the rise of Cambridge Analytica as the firm’s collaboration with Facebook yielded invaluable data about American’s personalities, values and relationships. At the time, Cambridge Analytica was working for the Trump campaign in the 2016 election; they were hired after significantly improving Ted Cruz’s following and success in the Republican primaries. The identification of “persuadables”, or individuals whose political affiliation may be swayed with enough influence, is where ethics become truly questionable for the viewers and documentarians.

The issue of targeted marketing as it is portrayed in The Great Hack may be a more compelling aspect for those watching with a background in advertising. The filmmakers thoroughly cover the way Cambridge Analytica bombarded Facebook “persuadables” with pro-Trump, anti-Clinton advertisements and propaganda. Flashes of the “Crooked Hillary” campaign appear on screen as speakers discuss the implications of these advertisements in viscerally changing the worldview of these individuals.

The biggest question of the film is the following: was what Cambridge Analytica did a criminal invasion of privacy that changed the outcome of the 2016 election, or an effective marketing campaign using questionable but legal methods to meet a client’s requests?

Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the fun by summarizing the final stages of the film. The documentary is well worth a watch, even with a somewhat questionable cast of leading figures whose self-interest at times supersedes their candidness. 

The Great Hack is an insightful investigation into the ways that advertising and marketing exist in the political sphere both nationally and globally, and a critical commentary on the cost for firms and publics as targeted marketing and data-mining become the key to creating the most influential campaigns.