Mark
Zuckerberg wants you to think everything is okay. Once he was done
apologizing at his congressional testimony earlier this year, the Zucc
made numerous unchallenged claims about Facebook. He reassured us that
we have full control over our data, and, since Facebook is not a
monopoly, we have plenty of other social media platforms to switch to.
The
truth is, Zuckerberg knows most people are ignorant about their online
privacy. He knows we all rush to click “I agree” without hesitation, and
we will continue to use Facebook no matter how shocking the newest data
scandal. Facebook is relying on the fact that the masses are ignorant
and gullible, for it to survive. It knows that (as long as it remains
useful), most of us are willing to hand over all our data, without
knowing what this really means, or the consequences it entails.
Let
me outline the key misconceptions about data privacy, which cause so
many of us to feel comfortable about handing over our data. Because if
you aren’t worried about your data privacy yet, you should be.
I don’t even use social media.
Even
if you’ve never signed up for Facebook (or other Facebook products),
Facebook will have some kind of record of you. So-called shadow profiles
are created through those “like” icons you find all across the web, on
news sites and more. You don’t even need to agree to Facebook’s terms
and conditions or sign up for an account, before being tracked by
Facebook.
What data does Facebook really have on me? I haven’t posted a status in years.
You
haven’t used Facebook in years? Many forget that Facebook owns
Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus. Even if you haven’t updated
your status in years, Facebook still has a detailed and likely accurate
profile of you, which it sells to advertisers.
Facebook’s
data trove goes beyond posts or location, though. By analysing your
likes and interactions, Facebook can deduce private information you
would never willingly agree to share. It does this with surprising
accuracy.
Jamie Bartlett demonstrated this on a smaller scale in his brilliant book The People vs Tech
when he visited Michal Kosinski at Stanford University. He gave
Kosinski just 200 Facebook likes, and their system was able to determine
a variety of personal information.
Some examples of information the system found out about Jamie Bartlett:
o Education: Studied history at university
o Politics: Liberal
o Religion: Atheist (If he was religious, probably Christian)
o Education: Studied history at university
o Politics: Liberal
o Religion: Atheist (If he was religious, probably Christian)
All
of these predictions were accurate, and all it took was 200 Facebook
likes (a shred of the actual amount of information Facebook has on its
users).
Now
imagine how much more detailed and accurate the predictions become as
more data is put into the system. With a combination of likes, comments,
messages and more, Facebook can reliably figure out details about your
life and personality. This amount of detailed information gives Facebook
incredible power to control and manipulate society (which may have been
the case in the 2016 US elections).
Case Study: Moms for Trump.
During
the 2016 Election, the Trump campaign hired a data company known as
Cambridge Analytica to target voters. Through a combination of
information obtained through Facebook and voter information from the
RNC, Cambridge Analytica was able to precisely target new potential
Trump voters with political ads (many of which have never voted before
in their lives). It discovered links such as the fact that moms worried
about childcare were a good target for pro-trump ads. Cambridge
Analytica’s system also helped determine where Donald Trump was to hold
rallies.
It
was a new kind of political campaign. One that used big data to its
advantage to micro-target specific groups of people with thousands of
highly specific ads. This might explain why many of the polls prior to
the election were so wrong. They didn’t account for Trump bringing
masses of new voters to the polls with highly targeted advertisements.
The
case of Cambridge Analytica shows the true power of Facebook to
manipulate users. Facebook pretends to care about your privacy, but numerous examples show this isn’t the case.
We’re
allowing social media giants to collect vast amounts of data (much more
data than our government knows about us) whilst hoping we can trust
them to not abuse it and manipulate us. Facebook has a practical
monopoly on social media and it regularly purchases or copies its
competition. The social media giant is still growing with over 2 billion
users, and in many countries, Facebook is perceived as the web itself. It’s slowly becoming a monopoly and is facing little resistance.
We
need to be more mindful of our data and understand the power of
Facebook. In the long run, this could mean moving away from Facebook
products like Instagram and Messenger. In the short term, however,
debunking common misconceptions your friends and family have about data
privacy could make them less prone to being manipulated by our data
overlords. The more aware we are, the greater our power of resistance.
Comments
Post a Comment