Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany

The revitalisation of canvassing in recent elections is strongly related to campaigns´ growing possibilities for analysing voter data to gain knowledge about their constituents, identifying their most likely voters and serving up personalised messages through individual conversations. The research l...

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Main Authors: Simon Kruschinski, André Haller
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society 2017-12-01
Series:Internet Policy Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://policyreview.info/node/780
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author Simon Kruschinski
André Haller
author_facet Simon Kruschinski
André Haller
author_sort Simon Kruschinski
collection DOAJ
description The revitalisation of canvassing in recent elections is strongly related to campaigns´ growing possibilities for analysing voter data to gain knowledge about their constituents, identifying their most likely voters and serving up personalised messages through individual conversations. The research literature about political micro-targeting hardly ever focusses on campaigns in parliamentary democracies with strict data protection laws. Based on in-depth expert interviews we introduce a framework of constraints in strategic political communication and reveal several restrictions on the macro, meso and micro levels which hinder the implementation of sophisticated data strategies in Germany. We argue that political micro-targeting highly depends on system-level contextual factors, budgetary and legal restraints, party structures and even individual decisions and knowledge on behalf of the campaign leadership.
format Article
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institution DOAJ
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publisher Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society
record_format Article
series Internet Policy Review
spelling doaj-art-eef0c97783bb4bc3b6d2e603d0649cfb2025-08-20T03:16:04ZengAlexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and SocietyInternet Policy Review2197-67752017-12-016410.14763/2017.4.780Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in GermanySimon Kruschinski0André Haller1Johannes Gutenberg University MainzUniversity of BambergThe revitalisation of canvassing in recent elections is strongly related to campaigns´ growing possibilities for analysing voter data to gain knowledge about their constituents, identifying their most likely voters and serving up personalised messages through individual conversations. The research literature about political micro-targeting hardly ever focusses on campaigns in parliamentary democracies with strict data protection laws. Based on in-depth expert interviews we introduce a framework of constraints in strategic political communication and reveal several restrictions on the macro, meso and micro levels which hinder the implementation of sophisticated data strategies in Germany. We argue that political micro-targeting highly depends on system-level contextual factors, budgetary and legal restraints, party structures and even individual decisions and knowledge on behalf of the campaign leadership.https://policyreview.info/node/780Micro-targetingCanvassingCampaigningPoliticsQualitative data
spellingShingle Simon Kruschinski
André Haller
Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany
Internet Policy Review
Micro-targeting
Canvassing
Campaigning
Politics
Qualitative data
title Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany
title_full Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany
title_fullStr Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany
title_full_unstemmed Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany
title_short Restrictions on data-driven political micro-targeting in Germany
title_sort restrictions on data driven political micro targeting in germany
topic Micro-targeting
Canvassing
Campaigning
Politics
Qualitative data
url https://policyreview.info/node/780
work_keys_str_mv AT simonkruschinski restrictionsondatadrivenpoliticalmicrotargetingingermany
AT andrehaller restrictionsondatadrivenpoliticalmicrotargetingingermany