this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
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Facebook is constantly experimenting on consumers — and even its creators don’t fully know how it works. (www.sauder.ubc.ca)
submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) by Tea@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
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  • Users of social media platforms like Facebook are part of constant marketing experiments
  • Because algorithms are driven by AI and machine learning, it’s impossible to know how social media companies are choosing what to show — and not show — different groups of people
  • Because there is no “random assignment”, marketers can’t fully tell if one ad might work better than another one.
  • In the process, groups of social media users can be excluded from important messages
  • Algorithms are so precise, they can target people down to an individual level
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[–] kat@orbi.camp 8 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (3 children)

I mean, still sounds like a black box.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 7 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

I think the point is that we designed the black boxes to do X and they do X consistently, just with slight variation.

If I make a cake making machine and it consistently makes cakes, its not a magic box just because I'm not sure if it will be creme frosted or not.

[–] kat@orbi.camp 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, maybe it's just different vocabulary for both of us?

To me: a blackbox is a thing where input and output comes out in a consistent way, very functional. While the box can make accurate predictions or decisions, the exact reasoning behind them is often unclear.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Looks like we are on the same page, but just talking past each other.

That's what a black box is, but colloquially, it's also a way to call something "unknowable" or "magic."

I thought you were referring to it as the latter, not the former.