ProPublica has announced the first tool in a series to let users see inside the “black box” that is the algorithms used to define their digital lives, the news agency reports. The first experience revolves around Facebook and what it knows about users. The Chrome browser-based tool “lets you see what Facebook says it knows about you,” the report states. ProPublica encourages users to then rate the information it generates for accuracy and return it to them. “We will, of course, protect your privacy,” it adds, promising not to collect “identifying details” or share data with others. While the report specified that the data its tool gleans is “the same information that Facebook itself offers users,” it added that researchers were unsure whether it represented all that the social media site knew about a user.
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