ted division has been in politics for forty years for him it would be a mistake to think that fake news has no impact on american alec torro behavior here's what's happening in our politics people are consuming information entirely different ways that we used to you know when i started doing presidential campaigns when jimmy carter you know has an office i mean we turn on the news that at six thirty at night we'd watch three networks at once and that was the way america essentially consume news now there is a constant flood of information both on television in the cable environment and particularly online you know that that online consumption of information is having a real effect on things because what's happening is the legitimate media is being supplanted by you know this fake news where people get information which sounds like it's real and true but has no basis in fact and in fact much of it is just made up and delivered you know by people who are attempting to you know affect the

outcome in the election by introducing false narrative and information into the flow of information so you know so yeah i think it does have a real impact. like of regard for the truth became more apparent than in any other us presidential campaign. according to politico fact an independent fact checking websites only four percent of donald trump statements during the campaign were true false information was constantly circulating in fact it became self-propagating you have to look at our media landscape and how americans get their news nowadays conservatives get their news only from fox news or alternative sites like breitbart so that's the only news they see and they view the manged what they call the liberal media the mainstream media with distrust and they don't believe the kind of c.n.n. new york times. russian post so they are only getting their news or large most of

their news from very slanted sources and so. what trump will say trump picks up his information from the same news sources these voters hear something conspiracy theory and breitbart news or something on fox trump here is a two says it and the voters i feel i've heard different on the news and i heard that from president trump so he must be telling the truth if they're in a silo and it's really hard to break out silos so it's a self reinforcing cycle of mr. became more difficult to discern fact from fiction the traditional press was brushed aside sort of a way that these campaigns have you know traditionally been covered and. and that model of campaign coverage was not sort of created with donald trump in my hands trumps disregard for making true statements is something that a lot of reporters have had trouble dealing with as we're not used to it we're not

used to politicians or press people just sort of straight out lying the mainstream media is disrupted and because the mainstream media is disrupted truth is disrupted and if the truth is disrupted you can just spread your advantage that. i didn't know that corruption has reached a level like never ever before in our country. eighty three eighty three will serve boulevard and address among the most prestigious offices in los angeles behind these windows at number one thousand or a few companies that would seem to have no connection. the first is brit regarded as a platform for the so-called right. the second is going to ring steel it's a small audio visual production company and these companies are linked to a billionaire who's rarely in the public eye. his name robert mercer.

he is co c.e.o. of a hedge fund firm renaissance technologies whose ranks he's been climbing since one nine hundred ninety three. carol cadwallader has been investigating this computer engineer turned billionaire robot is he is an absolutely brilliant scientist. really pioneering work. in the sixty's and in the field of natural language processing which is the base of. basically and he was that royce at the start of it and working out how to do my machine translation between languages so that google translates which we use all the time. descendant of the work that he did you know he is without doubt one of the brilliant computer engineers of his generation

and he was just an ordinary middle class guy doing a professional job and he got an offer from renascence technologies this hedge fund . for them and he did. it was in the early ninety's that robert mercer left i.b.m. to work for run a song technologies. there he applied his methods of calculation on the stock exchange in order to predict its fluctuations. at technologies he pioneered. algorithmic trading which now is you know a massive deal written. something which still remains a bit secret about hard to make profit in markets but the origin of it is in applying. computer techniques to the data without worrying about fear of where

the economy is going or what are the actual meaning of instruments or trading if you're buying wheat. or if you're buying a car company. you don't really care that it's a car company or that it's wheat you just look at the performance of these futures or these stocks and the key thing was to view this just as a set of numbers by applying his mathematical tools robert mercer revolutionized renaissance technologies investment methods making it the world's most profitable fund into this. mess it became very rich source because the performance of the fund which he had his own money and. was extraordinary i mean if it goes up thirty percent thirty five percent every year then pretty quickly you become very rich.

robert mercer is known to be very private he almost never speaks publicly. even google has a difficult time producing photos of the few that exist are always the same. there is also a poor quality video a public speech in twenty fourteen during a ceremony in his honor. found out after ike this i'm sure i'll accept this award but i would have to make it all right on some topic or other for an hour now which by the way is more than i typically talk and in a month. robert mercer might have quietly enjoyed his new fortune but he decided to invest in politics. he's been recognized as one of the most generous republican donors since twenty ten. merce's donations appear to be motivated by his own special interests.

the political system in america is so broken right now because of the special interest money which floods campaigns i mean what happens is when the special interests have an agenda you're annoying company for example and you'd like to continue you know drilling for fossil fuel you know or your polluter and you want to make sure you can continue to pollute you go in and you support politicians who believe in your agenda politicians who will say for example that you know climate change is not happening because of bad made activities you know they will they will promote that publicly because that protects the special interests who fund their campaigns. robert mercer set up his own foundation. the mercer family foundation. headed by his daughter rebecca. but what exactly are these special interests

he's protecting. it's hard to say since robert mercer never expresses his opinions publicly anyway you'll never know what's going on in robert this is brian said just look that's what is funding the money that way and i think that kind of bill for the paycheck. to understand the ideas that robert mercer wants to promote we can. look at where he's been spending we can do so with tax documents declarations of the foundation's fiscal allocations for the years twenty twelve to twenty fifteen mercer financed a number of institutes and lobbies among them the heritage foundation which fights taxes and economic regulation one point five million dollars the media research center which fights leftist media bias twelve million dollars the government accountability institute which tracks government corruption and publishes books

against hillary clinton three point seven million dollars the heartland institute which defends climate change skeptics two point eight million dollars. in new york he even paid for an ad denouncing the construction of a mosque near ground zero in just two years robert mercer became one of the ten most influential billionaires in politics according to the washington post's. in twenty eleven breitbart news the right wing online newspaper was in financial difficulty. mercer saw an opportunity and he invested ten million dollars in the web site. the executive chairman of breitbart was a prominent figure closely linked to trump's campaign stephen bannon. a former goldman sachs trader he became a hollywood producer in the late one nine hundred ninety s.

he wanted to make films and t.v. series to promote his ultra conservative political views. mercer and bad and are very closely associated and by mercer associating himself with somebody like steve better that maybe that may be a clue it is interbred or merce's personal views. in a few much. it's a ban and made breitbart an outlet dedicated to reactionary ideas. you see that with the breitbart publications over the course of many years it was someone like bannan who just proclaims this publicly that they're going to take on these as situations and they're going to try to deconstruct the government of the united states to pursue the agenda that they have which is to you know fundamentally change this nation and turn it into you know a place where people experience a level of division that i don't think we've seen since you know going back to the

civil war. robert mercer had built a political media network. to promote his ideas he was only missing one thing i can did it. in twenty fifteen he began by supporting texas senator ted cruz a figurehead of the american far right. but after donald trump's surprise victory in the republican primaries he placed his bet on trump. robert mercer created a pro trump political action committee called make america number one endowed with fifteen million dollars his role in trump's campaign quickly expanded. in july twenty sixth seen a dinner was held in a hotel in new york. it brings together among others rebecca robert mercer his daughter and donald trump the dinner resulted in key campaign changes.

trump's campaign manager was replaced. the chair of making america number one rebecca mercer whose family also fund the super pac. was able to influence the trump campaign to hire stephen bannon as campaign c.e.o. . steve benen became donald trump's campaign director. kellyanne conway who headed the merced. political action committee for ted cruz became number two. david bossie a mercer family stalwart became number three. robert mercer has assembled team was in place. bannon basi and conaway would from this point forward steer the republican candidate strategy. when the merc versus decide to support a candidate they expect the candidate to be responsive to their needs both in terms of how the candidate runs their campaign it also also after if the kid is

successful and there are and they are elected as an office holder it's reasonable to presume that the mercers expect that the office holder will be responsive to the mercer's needs needs as well and their policy preferences. robert mercer his plan was proving to be successful. but a mistake was made that made steve bannon's role controversial. here is what was discovered by looking at donald trump's official campaign books each of these lines corresponds to an expense during his five month tenure there was no trace of payments for steve bannon. but when we look at the payments made by robert mercer as political action committee one name appears several times. glittering steel a video production company. in total the company received three hundred two

thousand five hundred dollars from the committee in five months the company is run by steve bannon. that would mean that his work for trump's official campaign might have been paid by a glittering steel which would be illegal campaign financing. the campaign legal censor decided to file a complaint. and . steve bannon faced a fine and an investigation by the justice department. we believe or we think it's possible that the super pac make america number one was subsidizing stephen bannon's work for the trump campaign of i making payments abandon through glittering steel at all see this consulting firms last movie

production company located in california at the same address as and its own consulting firm. glittering steel and breitbart are not the only companies tied to the trump campaign eighty three eighty three will serve boulevard in los angeles also hosts cambridge analytic a company that came under the spotlight for its influence in politics around the globe. cambridge analytic claim to have revolutionary data modeling techniques that can change political campaigning. it was a subsidiary of an english firm and its role in donald trump's campaign is regarded as manipulation of public opinion. in the next episode of science in a golden age i'll be exploring the contributions made by scholars during the

medieval islamic period in the field of engineering. the heights of sophistication in mechanics at the time was the extravagant elephant. written around fifty eight in the book contains a range of ingenious in the. contraptions i am so in a golden age with. the latest news as it breaks the difference is that in the last bottles awesome flightless that authentic in the roots with this time goes with truth is to not come up with detailed coverage why though has already said that he's ready to take over as interim president and call for you elections. from around the world volunteers are doing what they can and that's not the point behind the government's decision to criminalize homelessness it hundred. in search of a safer neighborhood it was a huge will we make

a mouse and. can put my family in the home they deserve and that's a problem for me struggling to secure a home through really quite a brokerage and does all that is all we don't we could potentially lose their homes and living paycheck to paycheck there's nobody to blame and live with the consequences every day of the choices that have been hard. on al-jazeera. hello i missed. the top stories on al-jazeera south korea says a second son that's between u.s. president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong un next month would hopefully be attending points for peace on the korean peninsula the white house made the announcement off to pyongyang to lead a new can negotiate

a talks with trump and secretary of states mike compare. we continue to make progress we're continuing to have conversations the united states is going to continue to keep pressure and sanctions on north korea until we see fully and verified denuclearization we've had very good steps in good faith from the north koreans in releasing the hostages and other moves and so we're going to continue those conversations and the president looks forward to next his next meeting a former chicago police officer jason van dyke has been sentenced to eighty one months in prison for murdering a black teenager four years ago mcdonald's families say they're disappointed with the punishment colombia's president has asked cuba to hand over ten members of a leftist armed group accused of thursday's car bomb attack and bogota even duke a has reactivated arrest orders against leaders involved in previous peace talks with the government twenty one people were killed after a car packed with explosives detonated at

a police academy mourners and police in sudan have forced after the funeral of a man shot dead in anti-government protests in the capital khartoum activists say at least fifty people have been killed since demonstrations began last month the democratic republic of congo is rejecting the african union school to suspend the announcement of the final presidential election results provisional results which declared opposition leader felix the security of the west being challenged in court by his rival. a kenyan courts ruled that six suspects in tuesday's hotel attack must be held in custody including a canadian national this is affected of helping gunmen who stormed the dusit complex and killed twenty one people. israeli forces have used to live fire and tear gas on palestinian protesters along the gaza israeli border fence at least thirty palestinians including three medics were injured this footage shows one of three ambulances that were hit by tear gas protesters are calling for the right of

return of palestinian refugees and an end to the israeli blockade those are the headlines on fair game is that. called the must move hussein has now been held in pretrial detention for two years what is his crime. why hasn't he been tried yet why hasn't justice been applied in this case is he detained because he's a journalist as journalism become a crime have moles become a tool to silence voices of truth we will continue our news coverage with professionalism and impartiality our work will remain credible and accurate but journalism is not a crime incarcerating journalists is not acceptable we demand the immediate release of our colleague mahmoud to say and all journalists detained in a gyptian jails free mahmoud's and all his colleagues we stand for press freedom.

the election of the forty fifth president of the united states raised ethical and potentially legal questions. the possibility to undermine basic democratic principles has significantly increased. there will be no lies we will honor the american people with it truth and nothing else. the headquarters of a firm little known to the general public called s.c.l. group strategic communication laboratories is located in the heart of london. in these offices of data scientists compiled and analyzed terabytes of personal

information. their objective was to determine what motivates human behavior in order to influence a. they specialize in psyops. which is. a military term psychological operations it's a whole discipline it's an academic subject it can be used in different ways. the vermin is very clear about it services on its. clients include nato the british ministry of defense the n.s.a. and the u.s. state department. as c.l. has helped identify key leaders in afghanistan facilitating u.s. intervention. it's also organized communications for vaccination campaign

in ghana. but the company's practices remain questionable. it's a way of not cheap people that's the working towards better outcomes for them but it also can be used to manipulate people without being aware and it can and has been used by authoritarian regimes. the company organized protests in nigeria in two thousand and seven to win fluence the elections. s e l also intervene during an election on the island of st vincent in the caribbean. as. a different example it is not just on their own parliament they have to just really move it clear program of occlusion

a stance pretty discouraged of candidate the curva can have once problem because of the four hundred two but for a player that has. ensured. c.l. sets up ultra targeted influenced strategies. the advent of the web and the vast amount of data circulating created an entirely new dimension of business. in order to extend their market as c.l. group created a new subsidiary in the us cambridge analytic tech seven i wanted to suggest that a structure just doesn't take them into it is it does it was it says any can bridge the need to think you've hit on all and i'm so just. to create cambridge analytic. partnered with the american billionaire robert mercer a mathematician specialized in data. steve

bannon served as vice president of the firm. from the outset the objective was clear nothing less than a revolution in the election campaign process despite multiple interview requests cambridge analytical has refused to speak with us. but it's possible to understand the work they did by simply watching their advertisements political campaigns have changed they're no longer about running the most t.v. spots sending out the most direct mail or spending the most money they're about who spends the smartest money in today's political world what campaigns are getting more expensive in elections are won by small but crucial numbers of votes putting the right message in front of the right person at the right moment is more important than ever this is where cambridge analytical in our revolutionary data modeling techniques can help. it sounds like a more logical approach to campaign strategizing however the reality is more

complex and above all much murkier than cambridge and in that it was willing to admit it. since coming to the. united states the firm embarked on an unprecedented operation to compile data on the american population without its knowledge here's how it works. imagine that inside this car is mr x. like anyone he leaves thousands of pieces of personal information on the internet his address age income hobbies purchases religion and whether or not he owns a gun. cambridge analytical legally bought this data from credit companies banks social security and web giants like facebook google and twitter. in total the firm claim to possess about four to five thousand pieces of data for

over two hundred thirty million adults living in the united states. this is how they plan to use its traditional political campaigns use geography and demographics like age and gender to break down voters into target groups this can work up to a point but it misses the important personal details that really drive voter behavior we combine geographic and demographic information with up to five thousand data points of national political consumer and lifestyle behavior for every voter in the united states then we add a unique extra layer of data about personality decision making and motivation. this creates an unparalleled rich and detailed view of voters in the issues they care about so you know exactly who to target with exactly what type of message we call this behavioral micro targeting our team of data scientists psychologists and campaign experts can show you which individual voters you need to win over in order

to secure victory. the idea is to give people psychological tests and then compare the results with the in from. nation they already have on them to know what motivates them and thus influence their vote it's a technique that existed before cambridge analytical one of its inventors teaches psychometrics at stanford university california his name is michelle kosinski metrics is basically a science of psychological measurement so basically have not is that instead of using question to ask you about your thoughts feelings experiences and past behavior such as are you well organized person you can basically look at your digital footprints and see what are you in facts i well organized person in real life. tests to determine a person's psychological traits are called ocean tests they measure personality

based on five criteria. openness conscientiousness extroversion agreeableness and neuroticism. it's done with seemingly innocuous questionnaires that can be completed online like these. in two thousand and eight said michelle kosinski created the most famous of these tasks on facebook called my personality a questionnaire to learn more about yourself. became really popular we had over six million people to take the question there and a large fraction of these people also donated their facebook profile information to us and from this information you can use. algorithms to transform this

information into very detailed and very i curate intimate profiles so as a result michelle kosinski hospital largest psychometric database in the world. a database he can cross-reference with the facebook profiles of the six million people who respond it's. so basic you can turn your facebook likes into an accurate prediction of your political views religious views your personality intelligence happiness sexual intake or even whether your parents were divorced or not people often ask me how accurate those algorithms are at predicting our intimate traits and i think that a great example comes from a recent study where we have compared the curacy of algorithms with a curiosity of other people so what we did we took friends and family members of our participants and we asked these friends and family members to feel in personality question as in the name of our participants now we would provide

algorithm with a set of facebook likes and have it do the same thing so based on your facebook likes trying to predict your personality the results of this experiment are staggering by studying ten of your likes on facebook the algorithm knows you better than your call the. with one hundred likes it knows you better than your family. and with two hundred thirty likes it knows you better than your spouse. now given how much footprints how many footprints we're living every day while using internet and splaying of our phones. it basically means that computers can clearly know us better in many ways than even our close family member this. prediction of human behavior through the combination of personal data and psychological tests is shockingly accurate.

david garrow is a media professor at parsons university in new york. he battled for months to retrieve the data that cambridge analytical had on him. he was amazed by what he discovered. this is the excel spreadsheet that they provided it is broken into three tabs core data election returns and models the model on the one hand personal data that the firm has gathered from the web and then my registered now this is all the voter data here and this is what would normally be public in voter records but it it's all accurate it has the day i registered to vote it has figured out my birthday my address zip code down to you know all my address it's connected to census information.