Question 7
Domain 5: Privacy by DesignA social platform wants to boost content that is predicted to increase user outrage because it drives time-on-site. Which privacy-related concern is most direct?
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Boosting content predicted to increase "user outrage" uses engagement optimization to steer what people see and feel, which can manipulate attitudes and decisions. The direct privacy-related concern is not data collection itself, but that the platform’s design may "manipulate user attitudes and decisions in ethically problematic ways."
Why each option is right or wrong
A. The design may manipulate user attitudes and decisions in ethically problematic ways
The most direct concern is captured by the FTC’s unfairness standard under Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45, which reaches practices causing substantial consumer injury that is not reasonably avoidable and not outweighed by countervailing benefits. Here, optimizing for outrage to increase time-on-site is a design choice that can exploit behavioral vulnerabilities and steer users’ perceptions and choices, so the harm is not merely data handling but manipulative influence over attitudes and decisions.
B. The design automatically satisfies purpose limitation
C. The design eliminates the need for transparency
D. The design is acceptable as long as data are stored in one region