Fashion Preferences as Political Data: Cambridge Analytica's Use of Clothing Choices

Cambridge Analytica used fashion preferences as a key parameter to build AI models for political targeting, according to whistleblower Christopher Wylie. Speaking at a Business of Fashion conference, Wylie revealed that clothing data helped Steve Bannon construct the alt-right narrative. The firm accessed data via a personality test app called thisisyourdigitallife, created by Alexandr Kogan, which scraped Facebook profiles of users and their friends. This data was used to create targeted ads for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and the Brexit referendum. Wylie, who left Cambridge Analytica in 2014, designed the system that leveraged psychological traits to influence voter behavior. He cited Wrangler and L.L. Bean as brands with conservative associations, while Kenzo (designed by Humberto Leon and Carol Lim) was seen as liberal. The scandal led to Cambridge Analytica's bankruptcy in May 2018. The New York Times and The Observer reported in March 2018 that 50 million US Facebook profiles were compromised. Facebook banned Cambridge Analytica from its platform, but The Guardian reported that Mark Zuckerberg knew of the breach for at least two years without acting. The Italian data protection authority (Garante) issued a ruling on May 11, 2017, regarding a major Italian company's use of customer data for CRM purposes.