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How Powerful is Facebook's Algorithm?

What does Facebook’s computer code do with the data we give it – and what could it do in the future?

There is a place on the internet where almost two billion of us regularly go – many of us, every day. Facebook: the social network which Mark Zuckerberg started in his university dorm room and which has grown, in a little over a decade, into one of the most valuable companies in the world. But what does Facebook’s lines of computer code do with the data we give it – and what could it do in the future? Just how powerful is Facebook's algorithm? The answer will surprise you.

Produced by Estelle Doyle and Sarah Shebbeare
This programme was first broadcast in April 2017.

(Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a keynote address during Facebook's F8 conference in San Francisco, California. Credit: Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Last on

Mon 18 Dec 201707:06GMT

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  • Thu 14 Dec 201700:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201703:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201704:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201707:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201708:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201715:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201718:06GMT
  • Thu 14 Dec 201723:06GMT
  • Mon 18 Dec 201704:06GMT
  • Mon 18 Dec 201706:06GMT
  • Mon 18 Dec 201707:06GMT

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