Electoral uses of big data. An American model?

Since B. Obama’s victory in 2008, the reference to the American “model” has been recurring among European data workers. This reference makes it possible to sell their electoral big data services because it speaks to the collective imagination which associates the American territory—and its famous Silicon Valley—with digital innovation. The aim of this article is to analyze the logics of circulation: how is a “model” constructed in a particular American context? How is it imported and appropriate in a very different context? How is the importation of this model and its adaptation being staged by French big data professionals? We will see that this model is not, however, an identical recovery in practice, due to very different budgets, cultures, partisan structuring, and a legislative framework—particularly in terms of personal data protection. Our survey highlights a change in the discourse of French electoral big data service providers: they are now seeking to stand out—in particular following the victory of D. Trump and the Cambridge Analytica scandal—and to promote European particularities in order to sell their services, which are supposed to be more ethical.