Recommendation systems have become ubiquitous in our digital lives, influencing the content we consume, the products we purchase, and the information we encounter online. Fuelled by vast amounts of user data, these algorithms have the power to personalise experiences, making suggestions tailored to our preferences and interests. Indeed, the benefits of personalisation are immense – from connecting users to the products most suited to them, to creating exponential efficiencies for platforms that deploy them. However, if unchecked, these systems may have implications for user privacy, autonomy and agency and therefore warrant careful consideration of their ethical implications and potential risks. In this blog, we delve into the basics of recommendation systems, possible risks associated with their deployment and what governments worldwide are doing to address them.

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