Chapter 13 Quiz: Social Media as Observation Tower

Select the best answer for each multiple-choice question. Short-answer questions require a written response of 2–4 sentences.

1. Mark Andrejevic's concept of "participatory surveillance" refers to:

A) Government surveillance programs that monitor social media platforms B) Surveillance in which users actively participate in constructing the surveillance apparatus through their own engagement with social media platforms C) The practice of social media users surveilling each other through public posts D) Academic researchers' surveillance of social media platforms to study user behavior

2. The "digital enclosure" concept, as used by Andrejevic, describes:

A) The physical data centers that store social media user information B) The legal protections that "enclose" and protect user data from third-party access C) An environment in which social participation requires disclosure — engagement with the social space requires generating the surveillance data the platform monetizes D) The algorithmic systems that filter what users see in their social media feeds

3. Social media platforms collect which of the following beyond what users explicitly post?

A) Scroll speed and hover time over specific content B) App session patterns and notification response rates C) Search queries made within the platform D) All of the above

4. In social network analysis (SNA), "homophily" refers to:

A) The tendency of social networks to spread similar (homogeneous) information B) The tendency of people to associate with similar others, making network characteristics predictive of individual characteristics C) The process by which social media algorithms sort users into similar audience segments D) The similarity between different social media platforms' data collection practices

5. A "shadow profile" on a social media platform is:

A) A fake account created by a user to maintain anonymity while still using the platform B) A behavioral record maintained by a platform on an individual who has never created an account, built from data provided by other users C) A backup copy of a user's account data maintained after account deletion D) A platform's internal user record that is not visible to the user through their account settings

6. The Facebook emotional contagion study (2014) was controversial primarily because:

A) The study's findings were scientifically flawed and unreplicable B) Nearly 700,000 users' feeds were manipulated to test emotional contagion without their explicit knowledge or consent beyond general terms of service agreement C) Facebook had shared the study's data with political campaigns without authorization D) The study violated EU data protection law by collecting data on non-users

7. The Kosinski, Stillwell, and Graepel (2013) PNAS study demonstrated that Facebook Likes could accurately predict:

A) How much time a user would spend on the platform in the following month B) Which advertisements users were most likely to click on C) Users' political views, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, and personality traits D) Whether users had recently experienced significant life events like job changes or relationship transitions

8. End-to-end encryption (E2EE) in messaging apps protects:

A) All data the platform collects, including message metadata and behavioral logs B) The content of messages from third-party access, including the platform itself, but not message metadata (who communicated with whom, when, etc.) C) Users from government surveillance requests, making law enforcement access impossible D) Both message content and metadata from all forms of surveillance

9. A geofence warrant (or "reverse location warrant") differs from a conventional search warrant because:

A) It requires a higher standard of probable cause than a standard search warrant B) Rather than identifying a target and seeking their data, it identifies a location and time, and seeks data on everyone in that location during that window C) It can only be issued for national security investigations, not ordinary criminal investigations D) It bypasses judicial oversight and can be issued by law enforcement agencies without court approval

10. Jordan discovers that Facebook has data about them despite having deleted their account. The most likely explanation is:

A) Facebook's deletion process is technically flawed and does not actually remove user data B) Facebook keeps deleted account data for marketing purposes in violation of its own policies C) Facebook collects data about non-users through tracking pixels on other websites and contact data uploaded by other users D) Jordan's account was not fully deleted because they did not follow the complete deletion process

11. The "performance/observation asymmetry" in social media refers to:

A) The difference in engagement rates between organic posts and paid advertising B) The disparity between what users know about their own posting behavior and what the platform knows about its effects on others C) The fact that users can see what they post but have almost no visibility into what the platform infers, records, and uses from their behavior D) The difference in platform behavior between what it shows users publicly and what its algorithms actually optimize for

12. Social media platforms' "terms of service" defense for data practices (including the emotional contagion study) is most effectively critiqued by pointing out that:

A) The terms of service are illegal under U.S. federal law B) Most users cannot accurately summarize what they agreed to, and non-users who are affected by shadow profiles have agreed to nothing at all C) Terms of service agreements are not legally binding contracts under consumer protection law D) The emotional manipulation described in the study exceeds what any terms of service could legally permit

13. Which of the following is NOT a use of social media data by law enforcement?

A) Subpoenas for user account information in criminal investigations B) Geofence warrants to identify everyone in a specific location C) Monitoring of public social media for protest activity D) Accessing all private messages without legal process through a special law enforcement portal

14. The synopticon concept (introduced in Chapter 2) is relevant to social media because:

A) Social media platforms use the same architectural principles as Bentham's panopticon B) Social media creates a structure in which many users watch a few (celebrities/public figures) while the platform simultaneously watches all users — combining synoptic and panoptic structures C) Social media allows government agencies to observe citizens in the same way that broadcast media allowed citizens to observe government D) The synopticon accurately predicts that social media users will behave as if they are being watched even when they are not

15. The Facebook internal research disclosed through the 2021 Frances Haugen whistleblower releases revealed that:

A) Facebook's advertising system was significantly less effective than the company had claimed B) Facebook had shared user data with foreign government agencies without legal authorization C) Internal research had documented that Instagram worsened adolescent body image and mental health, and the company had not disclosed this or changed its algorithm design D) Facebook had been systematically manipulating news feed content to favor political candidates who supported deregulation

16. "Graph data" in social media refers to:

A) The data visualizations that platforms use to display user engagement trends B) The data structure representing relationships among users, which can reveal community membership, influence, and personal characteristics C) The graphical user interface data used to optimize platform design D) The geographic data collected when users share their location

17. The "you can leave" defense of social media data practices (if you don't like it, stop using the service) is structurally problematic because:

A) Leaving social media is technically difficult and time-consuming B) Social media is a network good whose value depends on others' participation, making leaving the platform equivalent to losing access to social connectivity that exists primarily through that platform C) Under GDPR, users in Europe cannot be legally required to leave a platform as a condition of protecting their privacy D) The defense applies only to paid services, not to free ones

18. Short Answer: The chapter describes social media as an "observation tower" that also functions as a "behavioral modification system." Explain the distinction between these two roles using at least one specific example from the chapter (the emotional contagion study, recommendation algorithms, or engagement design). Does the capacity to modify behavior change the ethical analysis of social media surveillance compared to a system that merely observes?

[Answer space — 150–250 words]

Answer Key

1. B
2. C
3. D
4. B
5. B
6. B
7. C
8. B
9. B
10. C
11. C
12. B
13. D
14. B
15. C
16. B
17. B
18. Rubric: Full credit requires (1) accurate distinction between observation (recording behavior) and modification (shaping behavior); (2) a specific, accurate example from the chapter — the emotional contagion study manipulated content to produce emotional effects, recommendation algorithms amplify engaging content irrespective of accuracy, engagement design exploits psychological rewards to maximize platform time; (3) a substantive argument about whether the modification capacity changes the ethical analysis. Strong answers will connect to surveillance capitalism's interest in predicting and modifying behavior (Zuboff's framework), noting that observation-only systems inform; modification systems act on people without their awareness. Partial credit for accurate examples without ethical analysis.

Chapter 13 | Part 3: Commercial Surveillance