In an era where every click, like, and scroll is recorded, The Great Hack (2019) exposes one of the most unsettling realities of our time — the commodification of personal data. Directed by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, this Netflix documentary takes viewers deep into the dark heart of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, showing how data-driven manipulation became a powerful tool to influence elections, shape opinions, and ultimately challenge the very foundation of democracy.
At its core, The Great Hack is not just about one company or one scandal; it’s about how the digital age has transformed the relationship between individuals, corporations, and governments. It’s a story about the loss of privacy, the weaponization of data, and the dawning realization that our online footprints are more valuable — and more dangerous — than we ever imagined.
The Story Unfolds
The film follows several key figures who were directly or indirectly involved in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The central narrative threads weave together the experiences of David Carroll, a media professor who attempts to retrieve his personal data from Cambridge Analytica; Brittany Kaiser, a former business development director at the company who later turns whistleblower; and Carole Cadwalladr, the British journalist from The Observer who first uncovered the story.
Each of these figures represents a different angle of the same issue: data ownership, ethical responsibility, and the immense power of information in the wrong hands.
David Carroll’s story, in particular, is symbolic of the wider public’s awakening. His attempt to reclaim his data — something that should seem simple — becomes a bureaucratic nightmare, revealing how little control individuals truly have over their personal information once it enters the digital ecosystem. Through his perspective, the documentary forces viewers to ask: Who owns our data? And what does that ownership mean in a world run by algorithms?
Meanwhile, Brittany Kaiser offers an insider’s look into the company at the center of it all. Once a loyal executive, she becomes disillusioned after realizing the far-reaching impact of the campaigns Cambridge Analytica helped to orchestrate. Her transformation from corporate insider to whistleblower adds emotional and moral depth to the film, revealing how easily good intentions can become entangled in systems of manipulation and greed.
Cambridge Analytica and the Power of Data
Cambridge Analytica’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum forms the crux of the documentary. The company harvested data from millions of Facebook users without consent, using it to build psychological profiles that could predict — and influence — voter behavior.
The process was deceptively simple yet alarmingly effective. By analyzing users’ likes, shares, and activity, Cambridge Analytica could categorize individuals into personality types and target them with hyper-personalized political ads designed to manipulate emotions, reinforce biases, and ultimately sway their decisions.
This wasn’t traditional advertising or persuasion; it was psychological warfare. As one expert in the film points out, “It’s not about data — it’s about behavior.”
The film portrays this as the dawn of a new kind of propaganda, one that doesn’t rely on overt messages or visible campaigns, but rather on invisible micro-targeting. It bypasses public debate altogether by feeding each person their own tailored version of reality.
The Personal Becomes Political
The Great Hack does an exceptional job of linking the personal and the political. It shows how individual data points — what we buy, where we go, who we talk to — can be aggregated to predict collective social behavior. Every post, every emoji, every “agree” or “disagree” reaction contributes to a digital portrait that can be exploited for political or commercial gain.
What’s chilling is that most people have no idea how detailed these portraits are. The film describes how data scientists could infer political leanings, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and even insecurities from what seem like harmless interactions online. Once compiled, this data becomes a weapon — one that can be used to divide communities, polarize voters, and amplify misinformation.
In this light, democracy itself becomes fragile. When public opinion can be manipulated through invisible forces, when truth becomes relative and facts are shaped by algorithms, the very concept of informed consent is undermined.
Brittany Kaiser: The Whistleblower’s Dilemma
One of the most compelling parts of the documentary is Brittany Kaiser’s transformation. Once a supporter of progressive politics, she found herself working for Cambridge Analytica and helping to secure contracts that influenced major elections around the world.
As the scandal unfolds, Kaiser grapples with her complicity. Her story humanizes the larger narrative, showing how individuals inside powerful institutions often face moral compromises. The film doesn’t portray her as a hero or villain but as a complex figure trying to make sense of a system that blurred the lines between persuasion and manipulation.
Her decision to go public becomes a turning point — both for her own conscience and for the global conversation about data privacy. Through her testimony, viewers see how deeply the culture of data exploitation had permeated the world of political consulting.
A Mirror to Our Digital Lives
Beyond the scandal itself, The Great Hack holds up a mirror to society. It asks viewers to consider their own relationship with data and technology. We are all participants in the digital economy, often willingly giving away personal information in exchange for convenience, connection, or entertainment.
Every “free” service online — from social media platforms to search engines — is paid for not with money but with data. This realization reframes the digital world as a marketplace of surveillance, where users are the product rather than the customer.
The documentary reminds us that this system didn’t appear overnight. It evolved slowly, through seemingly harmless innovations in targeted advertising and social media analytics. By the time the consequences became apparent, the infrastructure of surveillance capitalism was already deeply entrenched.
The Visual Language of Data
Cinematically, The Great Hack is stunning. The filmmakers use visual effects to represent the invisible world of data — streams of code, digital particles, and glowing networks that float around the characters. These sequences turn the abstract concept of data into something tangible, helping viewers grasp the scale of the issue.
It’s a reminder that the data we generate is not just numbers; it’s the story of our lives, rendered in digital form. Every pixel of information can be used to map, predict, and influence our behavior. The film’s visual style reinforces the idea that we are living inside a digital architecture that we barely understand.
Ethics, Accountability, and the Future
Perhaps the most urgent question raised by The Great Hack is one of accountability. Who is responsible when data is misused — the company that collects it, the platform that enables it, or the users who consent (often unknowingly) to its use?
The documentary highlights the failure of regulation to keep pace with technology. Governments were slow to recognize the implications of big data, and when scandals like Cambridge Analytica surfaced, the damage had already been done.
But it also points toward hope. Public awareness has grown, and debates about data ethics, privacy, and consent have entered mainstream discourse. Movements for data rights and stricter digital regulation are gaining traction. The film acts as both a warning and a catalyst — urging societies to rethink how data should be governed in a democratic world.
Conclusion: A Wake-Up Call for the Digital Age
The Great Hack is more than just a documentary — it’s a wake-up call. It forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about how technology has outpaced morality, and how the power of data has outstripped our ability to control it.
By tracing the threads of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the film reveals that the battle for data privacy is really a battle for autonomy, truth, and democracy itself. The message is clear: if data is the new oil, then we, the people, are the resource being mined.
In the end, The Great Hack challenges viewers to reclaim their digital agency — to understand the systems that shape their world, to question the invisible influences behind their choices, and to demand transparency and ethics in an age of surveillance capitalism.
It’s a film that lingers long after the credits roll, because it’s not just about what happened — it’s about what continues to happen every day, in every corner of the connected world.