Microtargeting
As I continued to work on my other projects this week, I also had the opportunity to attend an conference on Microtargeting that IDEA was hosting. Microtargeting is the practice of using personal data to tailor advertisements and messages to a particular individual or group in order to influence that person or group’s decisions. There is a tension in the Microtargeting debate over the extent that this practice is simply a modern form of political campaigning or an abuse of personal privacy. The most striking example to me was a academic study that used microtargeting to classify people as likely either introverted or extroverted, then, based on that predicted trait, advertised to each group based on the assumption. The study demonstrated that, in this sample group, when individuals were shown an advertisement tailored to their likely personality type, they were more likely to vote the way that the advertisement suggested. When individuals were shown inverse advertisements (likely introverts receiving extrovert messaging and vise versa) individuals were less likely to vote for the advertisement’s suggestion. This suggests just how effective microtargeting can be – particularly considering that the microtargeting was based on only one predicted trait compiled from a single survey. With the resources that multibillion dollar data mining companies have, the targeting can be even more tailored, and, inferentially, even more effective. This becomes especially important with disinformation campaigns. Using Microtargeting, advertisers can target specific individuals who are predicted as unlikely to verify information with distorted figures and messages that can alter their vote. Additionally, this problem is only likely to increase in size and scope given the value of the data industry and the new developments in technology (such as Artificial Intelligence which can make predictions about likely personality traits increasingly cost effective).
For the weekend, I decided to visit Brussels this week. Brussels is a truly beautiful city with winding cobblestone roads and monumental gothic architecture that seems to suddenly appear from a forest of buildings. While this made it much more difficult to cycle around, it was worth it to just walk around among the buildings and to explore chocolate shops. After some time in the historic district, I went to see the Atomium. This massive sculpture was built in 1958 to represent scientific progress. It is a truly impressive and unique building, and now has become a symbol of Brussels. I look forward to seeing more impressive things in the weeks to come.