From behind the curtain to centre stage: why I’m passionate about helping people Speak Out
It’s funny how life has a way of leading you exactly where you need to be, even if the journey feels a bit unconventional. My career has been a blend…
CAROLE CADWALLADR
Carole Cadwalladr is a fearless investigative journalist whose work sits at the intersection of technology, democracy, and accountability. Best known for her reporting on the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, Cadwalladr’s journalism has helped spark global conversations about data privacy, digital ethics, and election integrity. She doesn’t just report on complex systems—she humanises them, making her insights both powerful and accessible for a wide range of audiences.
A compelling storyteller, Carole’s TED Talk in April 2025, “This is what a digital coup looks like,” captured global attention. In it, she unpacks the emergence of the “broligarchy”—a new class of tech power brokers—and offers strategies for digital disobedience in the face of rising authoritarianism. Her ability to articulate the stakes of our digital future, while offering paths to action, makes her a vital voice for events tackling urgent issues around democracy, media, and technology.
Despite a high-profile three-year legal battle following her original 2019 TED Talk, Cadwalladr has continued to speak truth to power. Her resilience and clarity of purpose shine through in her advocacy, reinforcing the critical role of investigative journalism in a functioning democracy.
As co-founder of The Citizens and creator of Project Citizen, she is actively building new models for civic engagement by blending data science, storytelling, and activism. Carole’s voice is not only current—it’s necessary.
For organisers looking to spark real conversations and galvanise audiences into action, Carole Cadwalladr offers an unflinching, informed, and inspiring presence.
Media:
COMPELLING TOPICS THAT IGNITE CHANGE
Technology’s impact on democracy: Cadwalladr investigates how technology, especially social media platforms like Facebook, has influenced democratic processes. She exposed the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, revealing how data was harvested to manipulate elections such as Brexit and the 2016 US presidential election.
Fake news and disinformation ecosystems: Cadwalladr has extensively reported on the “right-wing fake news ecosystem,” detailing how misinformation spreads online and its impact on politics and society.
Future of democracy and technology: Cadwalladr speaks about the urgent need to rethink democracy in the digital age, addressing topics like generative AI, the metaverse, and the broader implications of artificial intelligence on society.
Digital resistance and empowerment: In her talks, she also provides guidance on how individuals can digitally disobey and resist the growing power of tech corporations and surveillance
These topics reflect her ongoing mission to expose abuses of power in the tech world and to protect democratic values in an era of rapid technological change
BIOGRAPHY
Carole Cadwalladris an award winning journalist and podcaster. She wrote for the Guardian and was a feature writer for the Observer for twenty years. She previously worked at The Daily Telegraph, and was nominated for numerous Press Awards.
She is now an independent writer and among her projects, she writes a newsletter for SubStack ‘How to Survive the Broligarchy’ – with more than 65,000 subscribers. In 2025, she co-hosted a BBC podcast ‘Stalked’ which was a top 5 podcast on BBC sounds.
As an investigative journalist, Carole was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for National Reporting in 2019, receiving praise upon her investigation and coverage into Cambridge Analytica and its role in Brexit. Her sheer dedication in exposing a nexus of corruption that resulted in Mark Zuckerberg being called before Congress, and exposing Cambridge Analytica’s role in mass-harvesting data to influence elections (Brexit and Trump), goes far beyond the question of Remain or Leave.
In April 2019, Cadwalladr gave a TED talk, “Facebook’s role in Brexit – and the threats to democracy”, regarding her the links found between Facebook and the Brexit election. This talk led to worldwide acclaim but it also sparked a three year long lawsuit which was won by Carole in June 2022. This case was one of several brought against her and other leading journalists and they are thought to be motivated by powerful individuals and firms to tie up the press in expensive and time consuming legal defenses (these are called SLAPP suits).
She was featured in the acclaimed Netflix documentary ‘The Great Hack‘ – this Bafta nominated film explored the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, produced and directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer.
Cadwalladr has won other awards, including the British Journalism Awards: Technology Journalism Award in December 2017 and The Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2018. She is the author of ‘The Family Tree’, published in 2006 and was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize.
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