Macri, the 2015 campaign and suspicions that Netflix woke up

The room is dark but the screens of our mobile phones are not. At a time when all our data is forever stored as bits, the pillars that support modern democracies seem to collapse in front of a small group of technology entrepreneurs who possess global information. One of the latest documentaries published by Netflix says: "Nothing is private" ("The big hack"), which concerns the Cambridge Analytica scandal and mentions President Mauricio Macri directly.

Age Gender. Place of residence. And why do not you like musicals? These are all data that companies like Facebook collect from the moment each user opens an account. All that must be used in accordance with the confidentiality agreement that each user signs. Or at least that should happen.

"Facebook has always underestimated the power of data," says Guillermo Vagni, policy badyst specializing in social networks, founder of Politicians in Networks, a study on the intention to vote measured through social networks that has him allowed in 2015 to work with Marcos Peña on the campaign that put Macri as president. According to the specialist, what Facebook does not take into account, is how much "information creatively used can mobilize audiences and communities".

Vagni's words are not occasional. They appear as a footnote titled "Nothing is Private".

"Nothing is private" is a documentary that the giant of streaming published July 24 this year and since then, it has not stopped generating a debate. During his two hours and twenty minutes, he shows testimonials from former employees of Cambridge Analytica who denounce the high degree of manipulation of the political consultant on voters in highly polarized campaigns such as that of Donald Trump in 2016 or the ones they had intended to do. the same year, reach the Brexit failed.

"I think Mauricio Macri won the 2015 elections thanks to what he added on social networks and that otherwise he did not win them," Vagni said.

However, the highlight of this anti-system film resides in a hidden video published by the British news channel Channel 4 News, which highlights private conversations by Alexander Nix – CEO of Cambridge Analytica- with other leaders of the society where they have how and in what campaigns they were involved There are mentioned countries like Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, Malaysia, Mongolia, Peru … The campaign Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Mauricio Macri's first in Argentina are also mentioned.

In fact, the mention of Argentina in the video is so remarkable that even the note published by Channel 4 News for the UK begins with an archive image of one of the 2015 cacerolazos against the then president, Cristina Fernández.

To understand the seriousness of what happened with Cambridge Analytica, a brief summary of the case is needed. Cambridge Analytica is a political consultant that gets its name from hiring researchers from the University of Cambridge. This badociation is essential to understand the complaints that in March 2018 have earned it the popularity it enjoys today. And is the main accusation made to this British consultant to have used information collected on Facebook for theoretical purposes? Information, needless to say, that Facebook should never have provided and that were used to draw real psychological maps of what would later be redefined as "the electorate".

The details of the Cambridge Analytica scandal are not arguments in favor of this article. Whatever it is, find out more about psychological investigations conducted by the University of Cambridge and how they linked this information to the personal data of Facebook users and your political preferences, we recommend this, this and this note where the subject is discussed in more depth.

Even if, since Cambie, we had flatly denied having worked in 2015 with the British consultant, the documentary Netflix inevitably puts the question on the agenda.

In 2015, Guillermo Vagni was part of the team led by Marcos Peña in the Balcarce building, "where they always say that they are the trolls"He notes with irony." Asked about the possibility that Cambridge Analytica influenced these presidential elections, his answer cast more than lights: "I understand that it's more interesting to think about plots and movies," he said. he declared.

For the specialist, Cambridge Analytica did not work for Mauricio Macri or for anyone in Argentina. "I think they have not done business here," he says. However, this is not something I mentioned as proof that Facebook had no connection with Cambiemos' presidential triumph. "I think Mauricio Macri won the 2015 elections thanks to what he added on social networks and that otherwise he did not win them," Vagni said. All this, he says, "considering that Daniel Scioli only won by two points".

"The information creatively used can mobilize audiences, communities," says Vagni. The counselor understands that not all communities are the same. Some are more permeable to deception than others. "The example is Trinidad and Tobago," he adds in this regard.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the most shocking examples presented by Netflix in "Nothing is Private". According to the argumentative line of the documentary, the British consultant would also have drawn conclusions on the elections of the Caribbean country with a campaign discouraging young people to vote and discriminating the actions of "indigenous peoples" on "blacks". In the film, what is explained is that the badysts have chosen this strategy because young people tend to be lazy and that, therefore, they would be delighted with the idea of ​​not voting, but that "blacks" tend to be rebellious, "natives" are more obedient. what their parents ordered, so that they would go to the polls anyway. The elections ended with the triumph of the "indigenous" candidate.

But not everything is black. Vagni insists that "it is easier to believe that there is a plot", the reality is different and therefore highlights the opportunities for dialogue offered by social networks rather than their potential as that manipulation tool: "By taking advantage of the huge opportunities they offer today to listen to voters, to communicate with them and to accompany this virtual contact with the territorial presence, this is another of the things that were done well during the 2015 campaign, "he explains.