How Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook targeting model really worked

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The researcher whose work is at the center of the uproar over Cambridge Analytica's Facebook data analysis and political advertising has revealed that his method worked much like the one Netflix uses to recommend movies.

In an email to me, Cambridge University scholar Aleksandr Kogan explained how his statistical model processed Facebook data for Cambridge Analytica. He claims it works about as well as more traditional voter-targeting methods based on demographics like race, age, and gender.

If confirmed, Kogan's account would mean the digital modeling Cambridge Analytica used was hardly the virtual crystal ball a few have claimed. Yet the numbers Kogan provides also show what is-and isn't-actually possible by combining personal data with machine learning for political ends.

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