The ERC project HUNTING (Hunting for Voters) investigates the effects of micro-targeting in detail. With the rapid growth of data-driven (microtargeting) techniques, political messages are increasingly matched to individual voters, in particular online. Many people fear these data-driven techniques, thinking they are possibly harmful phenomena and can invade privacy, exclude social groups, and depress turnout during elections. However, political targeting may also provide opportunities, for instance in reaching citizens who are difficult to reach via traditional campaigning. Furthermore, it could provide citizens with relevant political information on issues that individuals find important, and it could mobilise people to vote, potentially leading to increased inclusiveness and diversity. The ERC project HUNTING investigates the negative and positive effects of online data-driven targeting and digital persuasion in five countries. Within this project, the ERC team will examine the conditions under which data-driven techniques affect citizens’ attitudes, opinions, and, eventually, voting behaviour.
Subprojects
Prof. Dr. Sanne Kruikemeier is project leader. HUNTING consists of three subprojects:
- The first subproject, led by Jade Vrielink, tests the persuasive impact that targeting strategies have on citizens’ real-world political attitudes and opinions, and political behavior, such as voting. The project employs large scale (panel) survey studies, and novel methods such as experience sampling.
- The second subproject led by Puck Guldemond investigates the psychological processes that underlie targeted messages. The project employs mainly experimental methods, such as eyetracking studies.
- The third subproject investigates how citizens deal with and respond to targeted online political messages and is led by Carmen Dymanus. More specifically, the focus is on designing interventions to mitigate potential risks and maximize potential benefits of political microtargeting, or more generally online political advertising.
The team further includes dr. Sophie Boerman, dr. Annelien van Remoortere, dr. Susan Vermeer and prof. dr. Rens Vliegenthart.
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No 949754)
Data-Driven Democracy Lab 