CS 4001: Computing, Society & ProfessionalismMunmun DeChoudhury |AssistantProfessor|SchoolofInteractiveComputing

Week 12: Algorithms and (Lack of) ControlMarch 26, 2019

A Lack of Control

• Techcompaniesowningprofuseamountsofdata§ Companiescontrolmonopolies(Amazon,Facebook,

andGoogle)

• Techcompaniesopaquelysharingdatawithpartners

• Algorithmsinfluencingourexperiencesonline

Some Examples

• Todayalgorithmscanshapewhatyoubuy,whereyoulive,whetheryougetajoborabankloan,andmanyotheraspectsofyourlife.

• Autocompletenowpredictsyourwordsintextmessages,Gmail,andsearchterms.

• EvenTinderiscontrolledbyalgorithms— didyoupickyourloveordidTinder?

• Doyoupickwhatyouwatchorbuyifmorethan80percentofwhatyouwatchonNetflixand30percentofpurchasesonAmazonaretheresultofanalgorithm?

Why?

• Naturevs.nurture§ Algorithmicdecisionshardwiredbyanengineer§ Now,machinelearning– wedon’thavetohardcode

inalltherules,letthesystemlearntherelevantrulesbylearningfromdata

• Natureisthehumancode,thecodethatisessentiallygiventothealgorithmorthat’spartofthealgorithm,liketheequivalentofgeneticcode.Soit’sthenatureofthealgorithm.Andnurtureisthedatafromwhichitlearns.

CaseStudy1

Impacting Real World Outcomes: The Positive Side

• Theuseofdigitalmediatodiscusspoliticsduringelectiontimeshasalsobeenthesubjectofvariousstudies,coveringthelastfourU.S.Presidentialelections(Adamic andGlance,2005;Diakopoulos andShamma,2010;Bekafigo andMcBride,2013;CarlisleandPatton,2013;DiGrazia,etal.,2013;Wang,etal.,2016)

• Mostworkfocusesonthepositiveeffectsofsocialmediasuchasincrementingvotingturnout(Bond,etal.,2012)orexposuretodiversepoliticalviews(Bakshy,etal.,2015)contributedtothegeneralpraiseoftheseplatformsasatooltofosterdemocracyandcivilpoliticalengagement(Shirky,2011;LoaderandMercea,2011;Effing,etal.,2011;Tufekci andWilson,2012;Tufekci,2014;Yang,etal.,2016)

Social bots distort the 2016 US Presidential Election Online Discussion

• Quantitativeinvestigationofhowthepresenceofsocialmediabots,definedasalgorithmicallydrivenentitiesthatonthesurfaceappearaslegitimateusers,affectedpoliticaldiscussionaroundthe2016U.S.Presidentialelection

• Data:over20milliontweetsgeneratedbetween16Septemberand21October2016byabout2.8milliondistinctusers;datapriortothethreePresidentialdebates

• Findings:§ OnefifthofTwitterconversationsrelatedtotheelection

generatedbybots§ Networkanalysisandembeddedness ofhumanandbot

connectionsrevealedthatbotshampereddemocratizeddiscussion

Ecosystem of social media bots

• SearchTwitterforphrases/hashtags/keywordsandautomaticallyandretweet them

• Automaticallyreplytotweetsthatmeetacertaincriteria• Automaticallyfollowanyusersthattweetsomethingwithaspecific

phrase/hashtag/keyword• Automaticallyfollowbackanyusersthathavefollowedthebot• Automaticallyfollowanyusersthatfollowaspecifieduser• Automaticallyadduserstweetingaboutsomethingtopubliclists• SearchGoogle(andotherengines)forarticles/newsaccordingto

specificcriteriaandpostthem,orlinktheminautomaticrepliestootherusers

• Automaticallyaggregatingpublicsentimentoncertaintopicsofdiscussion

• Bufferandposttweetsautomatically

The challenges of bots

• Botsarealmostentirelyanonymousandcanbeeasilyboughtinsecretfromcompaniesorindividualprogrammers

• Sourcecodeavailablefordevelopingyourownbot

• Canbeemployedaspartofanorganizedeffort

Results

Similar results

• Oxfordresearchersfoundthat“highlyautomatedaccounts— theaccountsthattweeted450ormoretimeswitharelatedhashtag andusermentionduringtheperiodbeforeelection— generatedcloseto18percentofallTwittertrafficaboutthepresidentialelection.”

• Theyalsonotedthatbotstendtocirculatenegativenewsmuchmoreeffectivelythanpositivereports.

But we still don’t quite know if the bots really influenced election outcomes…. We will perhaps never know (don’t have data on a counter-factual situation)

ClassActivity1

Bots Generate False News

• Shaoetalidentifiedfalsenewssites:infowars.com,breitbart.com,politicususa.com,andtheonion.com.

• Authorsthenmonitoredsome400,000claimsmadebythesewebsitesandstudiedthewaytheyspreadthroughTwitter.Theydidthisbycollectingsome14millionTwitterpoststhatmentionedtheseclaims.

• Atthesametime,theteammonitoredsome15,000storieswrittenbyfact-checkingorganizationsandoveramillionTwitterpoststhatmentionthem.

• Next,theylookedattheTwitteraccountsthatspreadthisnews

• Socialbotsplayakeyroleinthespreadoffalsenews

Steps being taken

• GoogleannouncedinNov2016thatitwouldbanwebsitesthatpeddlefakenewsfromusingitsonlineadvertisingservice.

• Facebookafterinitialdenial,announcedupdatingthelanguageinitsAudienceNetworkpolicy,whichalreadysaysitwillnotdisplayadsinsitesthatshowmisleadingorillegalcontent,toincludefakenewssites.§ Currentlyasignificantresearchagendatoassess

veracityofinformationshownonNewsFeed

ClassActivity2

Legislationdoesnotovercomeinternationalborders.Giventherecentconjecturesandevidencearoundhowforeignpowershavemanipulatedthespreadoffalsenewspriortothe2016Presidentialelections,it’shardtoseehowthiswouldwork.

CaseStudy3

The Cambridge Analytica-Facebook Scandal

• Thedataanalyticsfirmusedpersonalinformationharvestedfrommorethan50millionFacebookprofileswithoutpermissiontobuildasystemthatcouldtargetUSvoterswithpersonalizedpoliticaladvertisementsbasedontheirpsychologicalprofile

• FacebookreceivedanumberofwarningsaboutitsdatasecuritypoliciesinrecentyearsandhadknownabouttheCambridgeAnalytica databreachsince2015,butonlysuspendedthefirmandtheCambridgeuniversityresearcherwhoharvesteduserdatafromFacebookearlierthismonth

Brexit and 2016 Presidential election links

• DuringtheBrexit referendum,adigitalservicesfirmlinkedtoCambridgeAnalytica receiveda£625,000paymentfromapro-Brexit campaignorganization

• Inthesummerof2016CambridgeAnalytica caughttractioninTrumpTower.OneofthetopcampaignofficialsreachedouttoCambridgeforhelpbuildingageneralelection-styledataoperation.§ Trumpson-in-lawJaredKushnersuggestedthatwas

athisdirectioninapost-campaigninterviewwithForbesmagazine.

Consequences

• BillionsofdollarshavebeenwipedoffFacebook’sstockmarketvaluationasagrowing#DeleteFacebookmovementandregulatoryfearshavespookedinvestors.

• FacebookisbeinginvestedbytheFTC.

• AdvertisersarepullingadsfromFacebook,companiesareeliminatingFacebooklog-infunctions.

Class Activity 2

Hosanagar’s Algorithmic Bill of Rights

• TheAlgorithmicBillofRightsaddressessomekeyprotectionsconsumerscanandshouldexpect

Hosanagar’s Algorithmic Bill of Rights

• Transparencyofdataappropriation§ UseofFacebookdatainhiring

• Transparencywithregardtotheactualdecisions§ Whywastheloandenied?

• Usercontrol§ Usersattheveryleastshouldhavesomeabilitytoturnonorturnoffsomeofthese

systems,forexample,tobeabletotellasmartspeaker‘Don’t listentomerightnow’ or‘Don’t listenuntilIsayI’mreadyforyouto listen.’

§ Thisthirdpillarisessentiallyaroundsomefeedbackloopwhereuserscanhavesomeimpactonalgorithmicchoice

• Formalaudits§ Forlargecompanies,beforetheydeploytheiralgorithmstheyactuallyshouldaudit