David Farnor | On 22, Jul 2019

Brexit backer Arron Banks has reportedly issued a legal threat against Netflix over its upcoming documentary The Great Hack.

The film, directed by The Square’s Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, uncovers the dark world of data exploitation in the modern age with access to the personal journeys of key players (including US professor David Carroll – pictured above) on different sides of the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal. Academy Award nominees Amer and Noujaim continue their tradition of exploring the seismic ripples of social media, questioning the origin of the information we consume daily. What do we give up when we tap that phone or keyboard and share ourselves in the digital age?

The film premiered at Sundance this year and will be released worldwide by Netflix this week. Before its release, though, businessman Banks, who backed the pro-Brexit campaign Leave.EU, has issued a legal threat over the documentary.

The Observer reports that the law firm Kingsley Napley, acting on behalf of Banks, wrote in a letter on 16th July that their clients were concerned it would include “false and defamatory allegations” made by freelance journalist Carole Cadwalladr and others.

Amer told the newspaper: “We have received a letter from Arron Banks’s solicitors, which we have responded to, making clear that we stand by the contents of the film and will vigorously defend against any claim. We find it ridiculous that Arron Banks and his solicitors would issue such a letter without having seen the actual film. We would invite Mr Banks to watch the film when it premieres worldwide on Netflix on 24th July.”

Here’s the trailer for the film:

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