Tbf the targeted voting on face twat etc WAS a major factor in Trump and Brexit winning. In as much as it galvanised people who do not normally vote. That is what ultimately won it for leave. But the bigger question was this illegal at the time?
The answer is an emphatic no.
Now if they harvest data illegally they can be investigated but people are so stupid they give their data away for free anyway. They are told this info will be used and still click to play a game or look at a picture.
But yes You Tube, Face twot, twatter were massive reasons, if not the main reasons Trump and Brexit won.
Check out the Doc on Netflix. The Great Hack.
Scary stuff.
Well done, you nearly understood the situation, apart from the following
They did harvest information illegally the act making it illegal took force a month before the referendum
https://ico.org.uk/.../investigation-into-data-analytics-for-political-purposes-update.pdf
And since you freely admit (at last) in your post that in your own words
"But yes You Tube, Face twot, twatter were massive reasons, if not the main reasons Trump and Brexit won.
The way things will go in future are there for all to see.
Money buys political power, only in the interests of those wielding it.
Now forgetting our usual clashes, ask yourself what future is there for democracy when groups or individuals can target a part of the population that normally is either not interested in politics, or unable to make a decision on what they want, but are identified by spying on them, and deliberately inflamed to come down on a side of the argument they may well not be well enough informed on to know it is not in their interests to support?
Basically it make a mockery of the principle of democracy, replacing it with whoever can incite the vote of the easily persuaded, while you have pinned them into a corner and they are a captive audience.
If as happened the last days before the referendum, the ideas they have been exposed to are not contradicted, you have them literally where you want them vote wise, and as the balance to and for leaving the EU was so close, your half billion spent on this scam paid off.
No wonder vote leave was happy to pay off the measly fine!
The words for this are
Brain washing
Unless this is stopped democracy is no longer a viable system, it can be bought at will