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  • Essay / Instagram Advertising Algorithms Review

    Instagram began selling advertising in September 2014 in order to generate more business and revenue for the company. After this change, users of the social media platform would find an advertisement aimed at them while scrolling through their feed for a product that might interest them, this is done through an algorithmic program in the platform. The process of learning this technique is not new to businesses, as Caudill and Murphy explain before Internet shopping became popular: "They [the inspectors] watched as the buyers picked the strawberries and noted the process that parents followed when choosing a box of cereal. Consumers do not seem concerned about this invasion of privacy; after all, they are in a public place” (Caudill & Murphy, 2000, p.7). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. They further elaborate on this topic that consumers felt comfortable although they were being monitored, had their anonymity intact because they had the choice to pay cash for a product they wanted. This anonymity unfortunately changes when consumers access the Internet. Their purchasing behaviors are no longer available only in aggregate. Instead, individuals are tracked and information is collected into big data through machine learning, which is then fed into algorithmic advertising from purchase transactions as they browse websites (Caudill and Murphy, 2000). The privacy concern of applying this method to Internet users is how personal data collected for one specific purpose (e.g. marketing) can be used for other sinister purposes and could have impacts on life choices, detrimental recruitment, maintaining stereotypes and being poorly evaluated. The way Instagram collects this data is identical to that of its parent company Facebook. The danger of these algorithmic ads became clear in 2016, when Olivia Solon, a journalist at The Guardian newspaper, shared on her profile a screenshot of an email she had received containing threats of rape and of murder against him. The company's algorithms then turned the photo into a Facebook ad, which then appeared to Solon's Facebook friends as an "ad." Put her in danger and make her obligation to respect private life superfluous. This situation is just one example of how big data generated by machine learning and AI is not a sufficient means to manage unnecessary personal data. Caudill and Murphy conclude by saying that “the voluntary nature of compliance is particularly important to privacy advocates, who argue that companies are not always competing with consumers' best interests; ; it is more likely that a company's degree of compliance is based more on its own profit objectives” (Caudill and Murphy, 2000, p...12).