Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe

by Roger McNamee

defines it, “an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems,” generally related to calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning. But with advances in AI, algorithms have become more complex as they adapt, or “learn,” based on new data. In Facebook’s relentless effort to eliminate any friction that might limit growth, they automate everything, relying on ever-evolving algorithms to operate a site with 2.2 billion active users and millions of advertisers. Algorithms find patterns shared by different users, based on their online behavior. This goes way beyond their common interests to include things like the time, location, and other context elements of web activity. If User A does a dozen things online prior to buying a new car—many of them unrelated to buying a car—the algorithm will look for other users who start down the same path and then offer them ads to