Data provides the reputation to an analysis or interpretation that it is grounded enough to be considered correct. If the data is bad or doesn't warrant the interpretation, nobody will know. It stays hidden with the data.
Something important I was thinking of the other day is the power dynamics that come into play with data as the new currency. Those with access to more data (money) and better tools for analysis (investment) of it end up having an unfair advantage.
I remember watching Colin Powell on TV in 2003 explaining to congress, "You see these trucks here? These are clearly carrying weapons of mass destruction. Only bad trucks would leave tire marks and move around like this." Clearly this was a bad read, and the whole of humanity has suffered for this agenda being sold to us as an irrefutable, data-backed truth.