[kictanet] Is Facebook biased on its newsfeed?

Thu May 12 17:55:06 EAT 2016

Its not the algorithms Ali, its the Machine Learning process :)

On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 5:42 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:

> Ahmed
>
> You obviously missed the story of the Microsoft algorithm that was taught
> to behave like a racist.   :-)
>
> http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist
>
> My point is that we do seem to forget that all these algorithms are
> created by humans who have biases.
>
> Google is in trouble for deliberately skewing their algorithms to benefit
> their own products. Not sure this is wrong but the European regulators seem
> to think so to the extent of threatening them with a 10% of revenue fine..
>
> With great power comes great responsibility - so goes the adage..
>
> *Ali Hussein*
> *Principal*
> *Hussein & Associates*
> +254 0713 601113 / 0770906375
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>
>
> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking
> what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 12 May 2016, at 5:20 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy <
> ultimateprogramer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There are a number of elements at play here:
>
>    1. Obviously to a great degree this algorithm has massively helped
>    Facebook. Not that I am totally on their side, what I mean to say is that
>    lets give credit where its due. Without this algorithm we would have seen
>    massive fallout and loss of klout. This is something Twitter did not figure
>    out so well. LinkedIn is still the place professionals like to hang out,
>    but its not the place professionals like to stay. Just stating how it came
>    to be that Facebook is air and air is life (so to speak).
>    2. If truly there is a bias to all this (which I am yes, yet to
>    comprehend how this bias is visible) it can mean 2 things:
>       1. Either content producers are not building influence better than
>       those who rank at the top. Or
>       2. If not, there is a genuine market opportunity in this gap.
>
> But algorithms are algorithms, and my experience developing algorithms
> tells me computer algorithms can not easily be twisted to lie, especially
> in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
>
> But these are all books on their own anyway.
>
> Just my 2 cents.
>
> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 4:52 PM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Listers
>>
>> This mail is coped from the Fortune.com <http://fortune.com> Data Sheet.
>>
>> The “Trending” topics section of Facebook seems such a trivial thing, and
>> in many ways it is. It looks and feels like an afterthought—ironically, it
>> started as an attempt to copy Twitter
>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3RlY2hjcnVuY2guY29tLzIwMTQvMDEvMTYvZmFjZWJvb2stdHJlbmRpbmcv/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf20eece1>—and
>> many users probably don’t even notice it’s there. But now, it has triggered
>> a national discussion around bias and the power of social platforms.
>>
>> In case you missed the brouhaha, it started with a report from Gizmodo that
>> profiled
>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3dhbnQtdG8ta25vdy13aGF0LWZhY2Vib29rLXJlYWxseS10aGlua3Mtb2Ytam91cm5hbGlzdHMtMTc3MzkxNjExNw/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB4ee70a20>a
>> team of anonymous journalists working at Facebook who curate the news that
>> shows up in the Trending section. A subsequent report quoted one of the
>> journalists as saying the team routinely removed certain
>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL2Zvcm1lci1mYWNlYm9vay13b3JrZXJzLXdlLXJvdXRpbmVseS1zdXBwcmVzc2VkLWNvbnNlci0xNzc1NDYxMDA2/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf141c2b3> right-wing
>> political sites from the section, even when the social network’s data
>> showed they were trending.
>>
>> The revelation seemed harmless enough, at first: Journalists hired to
>> edit things were actually editing them! But the comment soon snowballed
>> into a debate over Facebook’s role in news consumption, and whether its
>> sheer size and influence brings with it some level of responsibility.
>>
>> Facebook responded to the story
>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3RzdG9ja3kvcG9zdHMvMTAxMDA4NTMwODIzMzc5NTg/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf49ae890> by
>> saying that its policy is to remain as neutral as possible editorially, and
>> that it will look into reports of misbehavior. Then it issued a second,
>> even more heartfelt response, after the Senate Commerce Committee sent a
>> letter
>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3NlbmF0ZS1nb3AtbGF1bmNoZXMtaW5xdWlyeS1pbnRvLWZhY2Vib29rLXMtbmV3cy1jdXJhdGktMTc3NTc2NzAxOA/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB1d911177> asking
>> the company to answer some questions around political influence and the
>> Trending section.
>>
>> The real issue, of course, isn’t the tiny section of the Facebook home
>> page that follows trending topics. It’s the fact that the kind of editorial
>> selection those journalists engaged in is happening every minute of every
>> day on the main news feed, courtesy of the Facebook ranking algorithm. And
>> that algorithm, since it is programmed by human beings, inevitably contains
>> biases of all kinds.
>>
>> The bottom line is that Facebook is more than just a social network where
>> people exchange photos of their pets—it is the largest and most
>> influential
>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3d3dy52b3guY29tLzIwMTYvNS8xMC8xMTY0MDE0MC9mYWNlYm9vay1tZWRpYS1pbmZsdWVuY2U/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBca65e309> media
>> entity the world has ever seen. The sooner Facebook acknowledges that, and
>> becomes part of the discussion around how it can manage its social
>> responsibilities, the better off we will all be.
>>
>> *Ali Hussein*
>> *Principal*
>> *Hussein & Associates*
>> +254 0713 601113 / 0770906375
>>
>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>>
>> Skype: abu-jomo
>>
>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>>
>>
>> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking
>> what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> *Ahmed Maawy*
> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
> (KE) +254 714 960 627
> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>
> swahilibox.co.ke
> www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
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> ajplus.net
> www.everylayer.com
>
>

-- 
*Ahmed Maawy*
Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
Ambassador - Open Knowledge
Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
(KE) +254 714 960 627
Skype: ultimateprogramer

swahilibox.co.ke
www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
startupgrind.com
ajplus.net
www.everylayer.com
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