0:00:00.079,0:00:06.270
but ever since these companies started

0:00:03.020,0:00:10.559
amassing our data the clock has been

0:00:06.270,0:00:13.049
ticking in 2008 we showed you how you

0:00:10.559,0:00:16.049
and your friends 'facebook data could be

0:00:13.049,0:00:21.390
accessed by a rogue facebook application

0:00:16.049,0:00:23.369
without consent in 2011 a researcher

0:00:21.390,0:00:26.189
called Mikael Kaczynski warns that if

0:00:23.369,0:00:28.710
computers could analyze enough Facebook

0:00:26.189,0:00:30.570
data from enough people they could spot

0:00:28.710,0:00:33.660
connections between the way you act

0:00:30.570,0:00:38.600
online and your personality traits the

0:00:33.660,0:00:38.600
type of person you are what's really

0:00:38.930,0:00:43.739
world-changing about those algorithms

0:00:41.250,0:00:46.190
it's that they can take your music

0:00:43.739,0:00:48.809
preferences or your book preferences and

0:00:46.190,0:00:51.149
extract from these seemingly innocent

0:00:48.809,0:00:53.219
information very accurate predictions

0:00:51.149,0:00:56.070
about your religiosity leadership

0:00:53.219,0:00:58.770
potential political views personality

0:00:56.070,0:01:00.539
and so on by having hundreds and

0:00:58.770,0:01:02.670
hundreds of thousands of Americans

0:01:00.539,0:01:05.188
undertake this survey we were able to

0:01:02.670,0:01:07.229
form a model to predict the personality

0:01:05.188,0:01:11.189
of every single adult in the United

0:01:07.229,0:01:13.170
States of America by 2016 alexander nix

0:01:11.189,0:01:15.990
was explaining how cambridge analytic

0:01:13.170,0:01:18.180
could use this kind of research to find

0:01:15.990,0:01:21.119
people of different personality types

0:01:18.180,0:01:24.030
and target them with specific messages

0:01:21.119,0:01:26.460
that might influence their behavior if

0:01:24.030,0:01:28.439
you know that the personality of the

0:01:26.460,0:01:30.420
people you're targeting you can nuance

0:01:28.439,0:01:32.790
your messaging to resonate more

0:01:30.420,0:01:35.400
effectively with those key audience

0:01:32.790,0:01:37.530
groups because it's personality that

0:01:35.400,0:01:40.860
drives behavior and behavior that

0:01:37.530,0:01:43.110
obviously influences how you vote soon

0:01:40.860,0:01:46.110
afterwards these techniques were used by

0:01:43.110,0:01:48.649
two political campaigns that would rock

0:01:46.110,0:01:48.649
the world

0:01:49.860,0:01:55.540
yes your likes and dislikes your

0:01:53.049,0:01:58.720
comments and posts your personal data

0:01:55.540,0:02:02.920
they are valuable but it's what they say

0:01:58.720,0:02:07.420
about you as a person that's where the

0:02:02.920,0:02:09.008
real power lies no one knows exactly how

0:02:07.420,0:02:11.590
much these techniques actually

0:02:09.008,0:02:14.080
contributed to the results of the votes

0:02:11.590,0:02:16.450
one of the first researchers to ask the

0:02:14.080,0:02:18.250
question was Paul Olivier - hey

0:02:16.450,0:02:20.290
he works on an article at the end of

0:02:18.250,0:02:22.150
2016 that investigated what was

0:02:20.290,0:02:24.459
happening and this week he was here in

0:02:22.150,0:02:28.150
London to give evidence to MPs about the

0:02:24.459,0:02:29.920
latest revelations sitting alongside him

0:02:28.150,0:02:31.690
in the Commons Select Committee was

0:02:29.920,0:02:34.900
Cambridge analytic a whistleblower

0:02:31.690,0:02:39.100
Christopher Wylie and straight after the

0:02:34.900,0:02:40.420
session Paul sat down with me this isn't

0:02:39.100,0:02:41.890
just about Facebook and this isn't just

0:02:40.420,0:02:43.870
about Cambridge analytic where is it

0:02:41.890,0:02:45.430
this kind of data collection analysis

0:02:43.870,0:02:47.410
has been going on for a long time

0:02:45.430,0:02:50.200
and it's being done by lots of people

0:02:47.410,0:02:53.680
right so it's in two ways it's not just

0:02:50.200,0:02:55.150
about those companies Facebook enables a

0:02:53.680,0:02:58.540
lot more companies than just camber

0:02:55.150,0:03:01.090
charity care to suck out data in similar

0:02:58.540,0:03:03.130
ways so that's the first thing and then

0:03:01.090,0:03:05.380
Facebook is just one player in a big

0:03:03.130,0:03:08.560
ecosystem of online advertising online

0:03:05.380,0:03:10.900
profiling some of the companies you have

0:03:08.560,0:03:13.660
heard of but some of them you just have

0:03:10.900,0:03:15.310
no relationship with even if you fully

0:03:13.660,0:03:17.109
understand the terms and conditions that

0:03:15.310,0:03:19.690
you're agreeing to about what data

0:03:17.109,0:03:21.640
you're sharing I don't think anyone

0:03:19.690,0:03:25.060
really understood what can be inferred

0:03:21.640,0:03:27.790
from the data so not the list of your

0:03:25.060,0:03:28.959
friends not your likes and dislikes but

0:03:27.790,0:03:31.239
the things that you've never talked

0:03:28.959,0:03:33.340
about that now they can tell from your

0:03:31.239,0:03:34.930
digital footprint yeah it's really hard

0:03:33.340,0:03:36.970
to understand the inference power of

0:03:34.930,0:03:39.100
this data what can be deduced from it

0:03:36.970,0:03:41.709
that's true how people make decisions

0:03:39.100,0:03:43.329
basically whether they think about about

0:03:41.709,0:03:45.790
the issue but before making a decision

0:03:43.329,0:03:47.850
or not another way to say this is that

0:03:45.790,0:03:50.950
they were trying to find gullible people

0:03:47.850,0:03:52.750
so if you are able to do that you can

0:03:50.950,0:03:55.780
just make them you know buy into

0:03:52.750,0:04:00.819
anything into any content it's easy to

0:03:55.780,0:04:02.310
believe that Facebook managed to swing

0:04:00.819,0:04:05.450
the u.s. election

0:04:02.310,0:04:09.270
to swing brexit was only people on

0:04:05.450,0:04:10.680
Facebook who saw these new ads that were

0:04:09.270,0:04:13.080
targeted to them and then went out and

0:04:10.680,0:04:14.880
possibly changed their votes is that

0:04:13.080,0:04:16.560
what we're talking about or are we

0:04:14.880,0:04:18.600
talking about Facebook just being used

0:04:16.560,0:04:21.690
as a research tool that could then be

0:04:18.600,0:04:23.940
applied to the wider community in in

0:04:21.690,0:04:25.530
many ways whether people were

0:04:23.940,0:04:27.510
individually convinced to vote

0:04:25.530,0:04:30.300
differently I don't personally believe

0:04:27.510,0:04:32.220
that's how it happens what I believe is

0:04:30.300,0:04:34.919
that Facebook itself could be

0:04:32.220,0:04:37.350
manipulated using those techniques to

0:04:34.919,0:04:39.810
make some content go viral that would

0:04:37.350,0:04:42.210
affect public discourse so that would

0:04:39.810,0:04:45.060
steer the conversation basically and if

0:04:42.210,0:04:47.130
you're able to do this more or less you

0:04:45.060,0:04:49.229
know automated more less repetitive in a

0:04:47.130,0:04:50.790
repetitive fashion then you've partly

0:04:49.229,0:04:52.110
already won the election because you're

0:04:50.790,0:04:55.229
steering the conversation around the

0:04:52.110,0:04:56.610
election and that's precisely the point

0:04:55.229,0:04:58.350
that Hillary Clinton has been making

0:04:56.610,0:05:00.240
again and again about camera gigantica

0:04:58.350,0:05:02.400
is their ability to steer the

0:05:00.240,0:05:08.760
conversation on specific topics like

0:05:02.400,0:05:10.320
emails and that's that had an impact the

0:05:08.760,0:05:12.510
fact that some content was Reshard

0:05:10.320,0:05:15.000
widely during the election had an impact

0:05:12.510,0:05:17.490
on editorial decisions made by classic

0:05:15.000,0:05:19.260
media more established media which in

0:05:17.490,0:05:24.390
turn had an impact on you know other

0:05:19.260,0:05:26.130
people's opinions Paul says that even

0:05:24.390,0:05:27.870
though Facebook and Google have recently

0:05:26.130,0:05:30.260
allowed us to download everything that

0:05:27.870,0:05:33.600
they have on us it's not really

0:05:30.260,0:05:35.700
everything so Facebook can collect data

0:05:33.600,0:05:36.479
of people who don't have Facebook

0:05:35.700,0:05:40.139
accounts

0:05:36.479,0:05:41.970
yeah it's called shadow profiles yeah so

0:05:40.139,0:05:45.479
that practice for instance has been

0:05:41.970,0:05:48.090
forbidden in Belgium where I'm from they

0:05:45.479,0:05:50.970
even people who do have an account are

0:05:48.090,0:05:53.220
being tracked all over the web all over

0:05:50.970,0:05:55.050
that same information is collected about

0:05:53.220,0:05:57.270
them why can't they see it why can't

0:05:55.050,0:06:00.479
they see all the web pages that Facebook

0:05:57.270,0:06:02.430
knows they visited before making that

0:06:00.479,0:06:05.370
transparent will have a very dramatic

0:06:02.430,0:06:07.979
effect I think in making people aware of

0:06:05.370,0:06:11.370
how much tracking goes on do you think

0:06:07.979,0:06:13.540
that UK or EU regulation is strong

0:06:11.370,0:06:16.510
enough when it comes to protecting

0:06:13.540,0:06:18.730
our data that's what part of what I

0:06:16.510,0:06:20.260
wanted to say in the committee we have

0:06:18.730,0:06:22.600
very strong regulations around personal

0:06:20.260,0:06:24.280
data that are going to get stronger but

0:06:22.600,0:06:26.890
it's completely useless and actually

0:06:24.280,0:06:29.050
worse than not having them if we're not

0:06:26.890,0:06:30.760
going to enforce them they need to be

0:06:29.050,0:06:32.680
enforced that's the critical point we're

0:06:30.760,0:06:34.960
currently things are failing why are

0:06:32.680,0:06:36.580
they not being enforced because the

0:06:34.960,0:06:38.560
regulator's currently see their role as

0:06:36.580,0:06:40.780
balancing commercial interests with

0:06:38.560,0:06:43.450
Democratic interest around oversight of

0:06:40.780,0:06:46.150
personal data and that balancing they've

0:06:43.450,0:06:48.040
done so far was wrong or simply wrong

0:06:46.150,0:06:51.130
too much on the side of commercial

0:06:48.040,0:06:54.760
interests and not enough the

0:06:51.130,0:06:57.850
counterbalances issue on Facebook's

0:06:54.760,0:06:59.950
reputation and its wealth has taken a

0:06:57.850,0:07:02.980
massive hit in the last couple of weeks

0:06:59.950,0:07:05.620
with 80 billion dollars being wiped off

0:07:02.980,0:07:07.600
its value so can the recently announced

0:07:05.620,0:07:12.420
new privacy tools help to restore

0:07:07.600,0:07:14.710
confidence this is the end for Facebook

0:07:12.420,0:07:16.780
Facebook can still adapt their ways they

0:07:14.710,0:07:18.610
can still change they will have to

0:07:16.780,0:07:22.090
anyway because of the regulation that's

0:07:18.610,0:07:24.010
coming into force it's an opportunity to

0:07:22.090,0:07:26.340
revenge themselves if you want to say it

0:07:24.010,0:07:26.340
that way