Social networks, the 2016 US presidential election, and Kantian ethics: applying the categorical imperative to Cambridge Analytica’s behavioral microtargeting

Abstract

The 2016 US presidential election witnessed the development of ethically dubious methods of political persuasion built and executed on social networking sites. The following analyzes the ethics of behavioral microtargeting practices such as those of Cambridge Analytica, a company that claims to have played a central role in Donald Trump’s successful candidacy through its use of social networking sites such as Facebook. After describing Cambridge Analytica’s method of data manipulation and identifying several threats to individual autonomy posed by such practices, this research explores whether Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative could be used by individuals to effectively guard democratic processes.