How Cambridge Analytica Used Algorithms to Trawl through Facebook User Data

How Cambridge Analytica Used Algorithms to Trawl through Facebook User Data

I Study the active vocabulary and focus on Ukrainian equivalents of English words.

admit – визнавати

improperly – неналежним чином

sway – впливати

habit – звичка

psychological – психологічний

voter – виборець

targeted – цілеспрямований

advertising campaign – рекламна кампанія

deny – заперечувати

wrongdoing – провина

former – колишній

staffer – співробітник

power – приводити в дію

algorithm – алгоритм

invisible – невидимий

decision – рішення

allow – дозволяти

academic purpose – наукове призначення

move – хід

trove – скарб

pattern – модель

predict – прогнозувати

supply – запас

innocuous – нешкідливий

conduct – проводити

curly fries – картопля фрі, яка нарізана спіральками

intelligence – розумові здібності

claim – заява

verify – перевіряти

CEO – генеральний директор

apology – вибачення

testify – давати свідчення

controversy – дискусія

II Vocabulary focus. Study the words and  word combinations, check your understanding using flashcards, practise their translation, spelling. Check your knowledge in the test. Play matching vocabulary game (match words to their translations to make cards disappear)  and save the planetfrom asteroids by typing in correct translation of the words.

III Watch the video again and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

   

Facebook is under ire/criticism/fire after admitting a political dates/data/profiling firm improperly/illegal/properly received access to profile data from tens of billions/trillions/millions of users and used it to try to play/delay/sway voting documents/habits/bits. That firm, Cambridge Analytica, creates physical/psychological/physiological profiles of voters and uses them to deliver highly marketed/targeted/tailored advertising brochures/speeches/campaigns. The firm denies that it’s their doing/wrongdoing/misusing. But former offer/staffer/gaffer Christopher Wylie told the Today Show: “This is a company that really took make/false/fake news to the next level/limit/boundary by powering it with allegiances/rhythms/algorithms.” Here is how those algorithms work. This is algorithmics, the place/phase/space where we explore how invincible/invisible/reliable computer-controlled race/erase/database sets of rules are making decisions/connections/proposals for us every day. It all began in 2013, when University of Cambridge professor/fellow/lecturer Alexandr Kogan developed an hope/prop/app that included a personality/nationality/compatibility quiz that was stolen/installing/installed by around 300,000 Facebook users. The app collected their quiz responsive/responses/responding as well as their profile data and, here’s the array/delay/key, it collected information from their Facebook friends too. Tens of billions/zillions/millions of them. This was all allowed/followed/disallowed under a Facebook policy, which has since been charged/changed/arranged.

IV Watch the video and fill in the gaps in the text.

Kogan reportedly told Facebook he was collecting the data for 1)______ purposes. But then he 2)______ it to Cambridge Analytica, a move that broke the Facebook’s 3)______. Cambridge Analytica used this trove of 4)______ to build the valuable 5)______ profiles at the heart of the 6)______ its sells. They matched 7)______ responses with quiz takers’ profile data. Then they developed 8)______ to find 9)______ in those responses and 10)______ results for other users, 11)______ the algorithms with the 12)______ supply of Facebook profile data and they had 13)______. This shows that even seemingly innocuous data can be turned into highly 14)______ information. As the Guardian noted, a 15)______ study conducted in 2013 revealed 16)______ connections: liking curly fries gave clues about 17)______; ‘hello kitty’ indicated political 18)______. Collect dozens or hundreds of 19)______ plus other data and you can build a rich 20)______ of the American electorate. Facebook 21)______ Cambridge Analytica, which strongly denies claims it acted 22)______ saying it 23)______ the data after learning Kogan broke Facebook’s rules. The company also said it didn’t use this data in 24)______ it provided to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a claim yet to be 25)______. Now Facebook 26)______ Mark Zuckerberg is on an apology tour offering 27)______ such as restricting developers’ data access and has indicated 28)______ to testifying before Congress. The 29)______ has renewed 30)______ not only about the privacy of user data, but about the power of the data in political elections and about the 31)______ of the algorithms.

V Watch all the parts of the video and answer the questions.

Why is Facebook criticised? What is it blamed for?

Why is Cambridge Analytica criticised? What is it accused of? Does the company accept the criticism?

What type of services does Cambridge Analytica provide? What role does data analysis play in the company’s services?

How was the connection between Cambridge Analytica and Facebook established? Did the companies work together?

How was Cambridge Analytica able to get access to the users’ data and profiles? What amount of data was collected?

What kind of information did Cambridge Analytica collect? How did the company use this information?

What is algorithmics and how can it power data analysis?

Was Cambridge Analytica using the user’s data with the permission from Facebook authorities?

How can innocuous data become important for the creation of psychological profiles? What information can give clues to people’s preferences and behaviour?

How can a company use user’s personal data to predict people’s behaviour?

 How did top management at Facebook react to the controversy? What steps (if any) is the company going to take to avoid similar situations in future?

  

VI Watch the video and read the text above. Say if the statements below are true or false. Correct the false statements.

Cambridge Analytica admits improperly receiving data from Facebook.

It is suspected that Cambridge Analytica influenced voter’s behaviour and the results of elections.

Facebook is under fire after selling data to a political data firm.

Cambridge Analytica helps politicians target potential voters by studying people’s psychological portraits.

 Alexandr Kogan worked for Cambridge Analytica and helped spread fake news.

Facebook claims that it didn’t know that the personality quiz app data would be used for commercial purposes.

A former Cambridge Analytica employee told journalists about Facebook data leak.

Selling data to Cambridge Analytica was against Facebook rules.

A Cambridge professor created a Facebook quiz to collect data for academic purposes.

Cambridge Analytica was able to analyse user’s responses to quiz questions and understood how many friends each user had.  

Facebook CEO is going to change privacy policy and data access regulations for the social network.

Even information that seems not important can give a key to people’s behaviour.

VII WEBQUEST. OVER TO YOU.

Alexandr Kogan and Cambridge Analytica work with big data. Find the answer to the questions in the Internet and get ready to discuss your findings in the class.

1) What does (did) Alexandr Kogan research focus on? 

2) How does Cambridge Analytica use and analyse big data?

3) What is big data? 

4) How can big data be analysed? What can such analysis help to uncover? 

5) Find examples of big data use in research for academic and non-academic purposes.