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are a threat to Bumiputera dominance. But there seems little evidence that
big data is improving the situation of ‘echo chambers’ of ethnic and religious
divisions. Rather, these ‘echo chambers’ might be further polarised in online
and social media ‘bubbles’, all encouraged by political campaigning that aims
to microtarget groups in order to win elections.
is brings us to a nal aspect of the impact of big data companies on
democracy: the broader public sphere. At the heart of Jurgen Habermas’ theory
of the public sphere was the question of whether democracy can work in large-
scale, modern societies (Habermas 1989). In Athenian democracy, the public
sphere of the streets was accessible in di erent ways than the contemporary
public sphere, where large-scale nation-states impose a challenge. Habermas
did not say there was a perfect public sphere, but argued that we should aspire
to a ‘regulative ideal’, to move towards a better space for accessible debate
(Calhoun 1992). Richard Sennett’s Fall of the Public Man (1976) argues that
the achievements of the great multicultural cities of London, Paris, and Venice
in the 18th century were due to the streets’ accessibility, making interaction
among races and ethnicities easier. ese groups did not always mix at
dinnertime or intermarry, but the mere sight of each other on the streets led to
a better interracial society and some understanding of each other’s daily lives.
us, people’s being exposed to each other’s demands (and political parties’
responses to these demands) during an election time is essential for a more
plural and democratic society.
Now, if we take the two examples from Malaysia’s online-campaign realm,
it would seem that big data does more to segregate the online public sphere
than to intermesh segments therein. Big data companies can take advantage of
this segregation and try to appeal to particular groups’ interests, or, at worst,
exploit their fears and insecurities. rough algorithms that target speci c
ethnic or religious groups, they have the potential to reduce those audiences’
exposure to other groups online.

Conclusion
If GE14 was a referendum on big data, then we can conclude that Malaysian
politicians found big data companies essential to political campaigning and are
highly likely to use them again. Candidates made it clear that big data allows
for more real-time analyses and provides insights that traditional polling data
cannot. Even as BN su ered a landslide loss, members of UMNO said that they
would expand on these technologies. For example, UMNO’s Lokman Adam
asserted, ‘We are going to … use the mechanism they [Pakatan Harapan] used

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