Facebook wants to predict user behavior for advertising purposes

Facebook is planning to build new tools that would make it possible to predict future behavior of its users. Facebook would then like to use that knowledge for advertisements.

Although the plans have not been made public, they could be read in an internal document that has come into the hands of The Intercept. The document explains a new advertising concept that allows companies to focus on user behavior and decisions in the future. Predicting this is done with artificial intelligence that learns to estimate the behavior of the user, and on that basis can predict future decisions. Facebook would like to build this tool with FBLearner Flow, AI software that the company introduced two years ago.

One of the potential uses for businesses is to identify users who may be planning to switch brands. Companies could show ads to users who may want to buy a competing product, trying to change their mind. The data of the users would also remain anonymous for the companies.

If the plans go ahead, Facebook will therefore expand the ways in which users can be targeted by advertisers. Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was critically questioned by the US parliament for privacy violations and data misuse. In a statement, the CEO said that his company will do more to prevent data misuse. However, it does not appear that it will also restrict the collection and interpretation of personal data, if The Intercept’s reporting is correct.