Precise Profiling of Facebook Users or Reading Tea Leaves? Critical Analysis of the Algorithm Created by Michał Kosiński and Used by Cambridge Analytica Cover Image

Precyzyjne profilowanie użytkowników Facebooka czy wróżenie z fusów? Krytyczna analiza działania algorytmu stworzonego przez Michała Kosińskiego i wykorzystanego przez firmę Cambridge Analytica
Precise Profiling of Facebook Users or Reading Tea Leaves? Critical Analysis of the Algorithm Created by Michał Kosiński and Used by Cambridge Analytica

Author(s): Urszula Doliwa, Łukasz Grochulski, Paulina Sobolewska, Katarzyna Łochowska, Kamila Motyka, Karolina Wojdyna, Kamil Choroszewski
Subject(s): Media studies, Communication studies, Methodology and research technology, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Internet; Facebook; social media; algorithm; Big Data;

Summary/Abstract: In the article the operation of the tool ApplyMagicSauce.com was analyzed. It was created by researchers in order to make the profilization of social media users possible and became famous when the principles of operation of this tool were used by the company Cambridge Analytica, involved in the presidential campaign of Donald Trump as well as the supporters of the British withdrawal from the European Union. A group of six people consisting of one lecturer and students of journalism and social communication decided to undergo a study using this tool, providing data from their private profiles on Facebook. The goal was to show how the tool works and the critical analysis of its effectiveness. The study was conducted in November 2017.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 3 (235)
  • Page Range: 529-544
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Polish