Data-driven political campaigns in practice: understanding and regulating diverse data-driven campaigns

Data-driven campaigning has become a feature of political campaigns around the world. There is growing evidence that political campaigners at the elite and grassroots level believe that data matters for electoral success. This belief is having important consequences for the way that political campaigns are being performed. However, in practice, data-driven campaigning does not take a single form and there are very different practices in the way data is being used. These variations matter because they have different democratic implications. Whilst some uses of data may be viewed as permissible, others can raise democratic concerns. This article casts light on a diversity of different data-driven practices evident in campaigns by offering a theoretical account of the different ways in which data can be used. Discussing three factors that characterise the activities of political campaigners, this article demonstrates variations in who is using data in campaigns, what the sources of campaign data are, and how data informs communication. Reviewing the landscape of data-driven campaigning within political parties, and drawing extensive analysis of the UK case, this article presents categories that can be used to map campaign practice and identify activities to which regulators may wish to respond.