Using Data in Politics: Awareness-raising Campaign among the Voters and CSOs prior to the Georgian Parliamentary Election 2020

The action: Using Data in Politics: Awareness-raising Campaign among the Voters and CSOs prior to the Georgian Parliamentary Election 2020 aimed to research the use of data in Georgian politics, identify the main trends of political manipulations while targeting the voters and educate the large audience about the importance of data protection/privacy. To identify the local trends, Nino observed the pre and post-election period in Georgia and followed Tactical Tech’s methodologies and close guidance by the Fellowship Supervisor – Varoon Bashyakarla. As a part of the research, Nino interviewed the field experts from the CSOs, media, think tanks, digital marketing agencies and personal data protection company representatives. Following this, she disseminated the research findings among the large professional networks at the DataFest Tbilisi 2020 and Open Data public events. On top of that, Nino launched the media/social media campaign and applied creative materials (animated videos, posters, publications, quizzes) to reach a wide audience and engage the general public in discourse. 

The project delivered an analytical document – Data in the Georgian Politics researching the data-driven methodologies to influence the voters’ decisions in the country. As the study reveals, out of 12 globally-acknowledged methodologies, including advanced TV targeting, only the Robocalls and Mobile Texting methods have been used by almost all politicians in Georgia. Hence, the project developed educational animated videos and a quiz tailored to data use in Georgian Politics. As a result of the community outreach campaigns, approximately 100,000 Georgians were reached and became more aware of the possibilities of their personal information being used in political processes; it’s expected that some of them will change their behavior and become more cautious with their data in digital space. Finally, the project created a network of 150 activists trained about the use of personal data in political processes and expected to further contribute to research and advocating the issue.

Video ‘The business of using your data in elections’ (in English):

Video ‘The business of using your data in elections’ (in Georgian):

Video ‘How data is being used in politics?’ (in English):

Video ‘How data is being used in politics?’ (in Georgian):

Infographics ‘Methods of influencing voters using data’ (in English):

Infographics ‘Methods of influencing voters using data’ (in Georgian):

Data in the Georgian Politics Research Paper