Amidst the storm surrounding Facebook user data and manipulation by the Cambridge Analytica firm, the canton Zurich data protection officer has said that such a scenario is also possible in Switzerland. Is it? In an interview with the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper published on Wednesday, Bruno Baeriswyl warned that mass psychological manipulation of voter behaviour could also happen in Switzerland; he mentioned specifically the upcoming federal elections. “Following the Obama and Trump campaigns, various US advisers came to Switzerland to publicise the new possibilities of campaigning,” he said, without giving names. “I would not be surprised if we see such phenomena in the next national elections of 2019.” Baeriswyl, “astonished” as to the extent of the meddling, criticised the lack of transparency around Facebook user data, as well as the long, opaque “terms and conditions” that must be accepted to create a profile. In fact, he said, given that the terms of consent cannot be ...
