[mhneu]

Selling psychological data to advertisers is boring, but when you get billionaires and foreign powers involved to elect a would-be autocrat who is degrading American democracy, it suddenly gets a lot of people talking.

Yup. It's not a surprise why people are interested in the role of data in modern public debate and democracy.

[rtx]

That's why we need safeguards in place. Everyone was happy when Obama used it and never thought it can be used by someone else too.

Edit: Someone linked this below - http://adage.com/article/moy-2008/obama-wins-ad-age-s-market...

[pritambaral]

Did Obama acquire the data under false pretense, use it to lie and mislead people, or downright coerce candidates through bribes and sex?

[downandout]

I have seen no evidence that the efforts of “foreign powers” were even remotely close to effective. Has anyone done a study proving that people either changed their votes or didn’t vote based upon the Russian campaign?

[JetSpiegel]

I think most people believe Russian hackers literally hacked voting machines to give Trump the election. Subtle manipulation of emotions it too complex for the public.

[mistermann]

Wait until people find out American democracy is smoke and mirrors, then you'll see people talking. They better this situation under control soon or that might just happen.