Similar predictions could be made from all manner of digital data, with this kind of secondary ‘inference’ made with remarkable accuracy.
-Michal Kosinski
New research, published in the journal PNAS, shows that surprisingly accurate estimates of Facebook users’ race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views can be inferred from automated analysis of only their Facebook Likes - information currently publicly available by default.
In the study, researchers describe Facebook Likes as a “generic class” of digital record - similar to web search queries and browsing histories - and suggest that such techniques could be used to extract sensitive information for almost anyone regularly online.
Researchers at Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre, in collaboration with Microsoft Research Cambridge, analysed a dataset of over 58,000 US Facebook users, who volunteered their Likes, demographic profiles and psychometric testing results through the myPersonality application.
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Image: Graphic from mypersonality app
Credit: Cambridge Psychometrics Centre
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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