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We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads | Zeynep Tufekci

TED · 771.6K views · 2017-11-17 · 22:56

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Overview

Technosociologist Zeynep Tufekci argues that the machine-learning systems used to serve ads also decide what political and social information people see. She explains how opaque algorithms can nudge, segment and manipulate users, and warns that the real danger is powerful people using AI to control populations.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it whenever engagement-optimizing feeds, micro-targeting or ad infrastructure come up, as an accessible warning about algorithmic amplification.

Recommended by 6 HN people across 6 months · HN mentions 2017–2026

Topics

Futurism & technology and societyAI safety, AGI & impactPrivacy, surveillance & cybercrime
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ad targetingrecommendation algorithmspersuasionsocial mediaai ethics

What people said

kaizenb · 2026-08 · Strong recommendation

uBlock team is the modern times heroes fighting the good fight for us. Thanks to them I've been navigating the web with peace of mind for a long time. Sometimes I find myself thinking how our lives would be if couple of guys didn't build shitty tech startups. We've gone from creative advertising to these manipulative online marketing scams, that attack our brains, especially targeting young generation, which effects how our societies, behaviours, art and culture develop. Recommend watching: "We're building an artificial intelligence-powered dystopia, one click at a time, says technosociologist Zeynep Tufecki. In an eye-opening talk, she details how the same algorithms companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon use to get you to click on ads are also used to organize your access to political and social information. And the machines aren't even the real threat. What we need to understand is how the powerful might use AI to control us -- and what we can do in response." [VIDEO]

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DarkUranium · 2026-02 · Recommendation

There's literally a name for using this on purpose: stochastic terrorism. There's also a very good TED talk on this topic from 8 years ago : [VIDEO]

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inglor_cz · 2021-01 · Recommendation

That is not the case of YouTube, though. YT pushes recommended videos on you. There is an interesting speech by Zeynap Tufekci on this topic: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by TED, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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