Manipulation of the ‘filter bubble’
In my previous post, ‘Is Facebook the Real Big Brother’, I talked about Facebook and manipulation. Here, now, is a TED talk from 2011 about the ‘personalisation’ of the internet, and how it locks us in rather than freeing us up.
I have to say I was shocked when I watched this TED talk, especially as Eli Pariser foresaw the problems we’re now facing…6 years ago. I was also shocked because I had no idea that even my searches were being ‘tailored’ for me by Google.
“From human gatekeepers to algorithmic ones.”
When I do a search, I want it to be relevant, yes, but I also want to see what’s out there. I want to choose what I see, because if I can’t see the things that I may not like, I may be manipulated into seeing things that are skewed for someone else’s benefit.
Cambridge Analytics already boasts that:
it knows us better than we know ourselves and
used that knowledge in both the Trump election and Brexit.
Truth or bullshit?
Given the company’s connection to billionaire software genius Robert Mercer*, and Mercer’s connection to Breitbart and Bannon, I can’t shrug it off as bullshit. But if Trump and Brexit are possible, then Eli Pariser’s filter bubble could turn out to be more like a noose.
My thanks to Honie Briggs for the link to the TED talk.
Meeks
*The Guardian expose is here and you can Google the details to check their validity:
Filed under: My soap box Tagged: Brexit, Cambridge-Analytics, Facebook, filter-bubble, Google, manipulation, news, personalisation, Robert-Mercer, TED, Trump, Yahoo
