How 'We The People' Are Being Played Into Destroying Our Democracies

"A shadowy global operation involving big data, billionaire friends of Trump and the disparate forces of the Leave campaign influenced the result of the EU referendum. As Britain heads to the polls again, is our electoral process still fit for purpose?''

Powerful question. The alleged involvement of Moscow into the recent, massive hacking of the Emmanuel Macron campaign boggles minds further on how open democracies will be able to cope with manipulative cyber attacks. A most challenging subject for investigative journalism is who in that dark global web works with - and for - whom.

“The connectivity that is the heart of globalisation can be exploited by states with hostile intent to further their aims […] The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty,” said Alex Younger, head of MI6. 

Certainly, much more than sovereignty, the integrity of the citizens are at stake, as the minds of the voters are played, more and more.

In 2013, a company, SCL Elections, was bought by Robert Mercer, a secretive hedge fund billionaire, renamed Cambridge Analytica, and achieved a certain notoriety as the data analytics firm that played a role in both Trump and Brexit campaigns. 

There begins Carole Cadwalladr's deep-digging story on what some sources call a huge "psychological warfare" company, described as dark and dystopian, that "gave the world Trump". 

There are three layers to this story, according to Cadwalladr:

How the foundations of an authoritarian surveillance state are being laid in the US. 

How British democracy was subverted through a covert, far-reaching plan of coordination enabled by a US billionaire. 

And how we are in the midst of a massive land grab for power by billionaires via our data. Data which is being silently amassed, harvested and stored. Whoever owns this data owns the future.

This one is chilling read - on how we are all being pushed into a world where democracy will be no longer.