For those who are not already aware, the reason that the internet is free is because the internet is not the product. You are the product. It’s this awareness that The Click Trap is attempting to spread in its extensive coverage of the online marketing world and how much they are intruding on our browsing and scamming money out of us as we explore the World Wide Web.
Launching off interviews from leaders of NGO’s looking to help regulate the dominant tech companies of the world, the film explores how these companies profit, not only from the data they collect from our personal devices, but from getting users to click on disinformation articles. There are several different issues that the documentary covers on this topic which ranges from tracking women seeking abortions to scammers targeting vulnerable users with promises of investment opportunities.
This film’s number one goal is information. It does the most that it can to inform and convince the audience that the work these regulators do is important and needed in our modern landscape of online advertising. The film does this very well with a upbeat sense of editing and use of music as it makes this journey which is often shocking, enjoyable and educational. The issues that it chooses to cover should be relevant to the majority of viewers, making it the kind of film that should be welcomed onto a streaming service to be available for wide viewing.
The Click Trap is playing at Hot Docs ’24. For more information, click here.
