Social Media Data Use Ethics after Cambridge Analytica

Speakers: Anatoliy Gruzd & Philip Mai, Social Media Lab, Ryerson University, Canada

Abstract: Social media data is a rich source of behavioural data that can reveal how we connect and interact with each other online in real time and over time, and what that might mean for our society as we continue to speed towards an increasingly computer-mediated future. However, much of the data being collected are being used in ways that are not always transparent to the users. Also once collected, the data can be combined with other types of data and analyzed by algorithms to reveal even more sensitive information about the users. As a result, questions around why and how data consumers’ use social media data are becoming pertinent, especially in the aftermath of the Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. This talk will discuss privacy and ethical implications of working with social media data.

Bios: Anatoliy Gruzd is a Canada Research Chair in Social Media Data Stewardship, Associate Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, and Director of Research at the Social Media Lab. Anatoliy is also a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists; a co-editor of a multidisciplinary journal on Big Data and Society; and a founding co-chair of the International Conference on Social Media and Society. His research initiatives explore how social media platforms are changing the ways in which people and organizations communicate, collaborate and disseminate information and how these changes impact the norms and structures of modern society.

Philip Mai is the Director of Business and Communications at Ryerson Social Media Lab at Ted Rogers School of Management and co-founder of the International Conference on Social Media & Society.  In his work at the Social Media Lab, he focuses on knowledge mobilization, information diffusion, business and research partnerships, and the practical application of social media analytics.

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