Every like, click, and location you share builds a digital twin that can be used to manipulate you politically. This article reveals the hidden price of your data and how to protect your privacy.
This week, Romania’s Constitutional Court made an unprecedented decision: annulling the first round of the presidential elections after discovering a foreign influence operation through TikTok. Declassified documents revealed that the winning candidate, known for his far-right positions, had received preferential treatment on the platform. Algorithms and coordinated accounts massively promoted his campaign, while foreign cyberattacks decisively influenced the outcome.
Also this week, a US federal appeals court upheld the law that could ban TikTok in that country, citing national security concerns about sensitive information captured by applications controlled by foreign governments. Both cases reveal a serious problem: our digital interactions, tracked and manipulated, have become weapons in political and economic battles.
The Profile Factories
Behind each social media user exists a meticulously constructed “digital twin” that collects both openly declared information (age, location, interests) and what their digital behaviors reveal. This invisible profile is the axis of a multi-billion dollar industry based on data exploitation.
The commercial value of these profiles is astronomical, but their true power goes beyond commerce: they feed AI systems that not only anticipate behaviors but can actively influence them. The Cambridge Analytica case and the recent electoral manipulation in Romania demonstrate how these digital profiles have become powerful tools of political manipulation.
The Role of Social Media
Social media are the cornerstone of these profile factories. Users often accept terms without understanding they are granting access to their interactions, contacts, and locations. Platforms monetize this information directly and allow third-party access through commercial agreements.
In the seemingly harmless exchange between entertainment and personal information, we grant control over our perception of reality and our decisions. We lose trust in collective communication spaces and risk democratic integrity.
A Vicious Cycle
The loss of privacy and information disorder are closely related, generating a cycle: more shared personal information means more precise profiles, and the more exposed we are to manipulated content, the more data we generate about our reactions and susceptibilities.
Information disorder also erodes privacy in two ways: through disinformation campaigns that use deceptive tactics to steal personal data, and when governments exploit the climate of fear to legitimize mass surveillance programs.
Resistance to the Phenomenon
A global movement has emerged combining citizen initiatives, regulatory frameworks, and technological tools. Europe’s GDPR and the US PAFACA have established standards that now influence legislation worldwide. In Colombia, a bill is being discussed to update the data protection law.
Privacy is not simply an individual right: protecting it is fundamental to combating manipulation and safeguarding democratic integrity. Its future will depend on the decisions we make today as a society about limits and safeguards. In the digital age, privacy requires active protection and constant vigilance. It is, ultimately, a core element in our resistance against information disorder.
