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Luca Belli

Hidden Influences explores how recommendation systems shape what we see online and how that quietly affects what we believe, buy, watch, and even who we connect with. These systems decide which posts surface, which videos autoplay, which products get suggested, and which voices fade into the background.

Luca isn’t writing from the sidelines. He previously co-founded and led research for Twitter’s Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability team, and the book reflects that experience. It explains how modern recommender systems are built, why they’re so effective at holding attention, and where the incentives behind them start to conflict with individual agency, privacy, and democratic norms.

This isn’t a coding manual. It’s a clear look at the mechanics and motivations behind recommendation engines, written for engineers, product builders, and anyone who wants to understand how algorithmic curation works at scale. The focus stays on how these systems influence behavior and culture, and what it means to design, deploy, or live with them responsibly.

If you care about how information reaches people—and how software choices ripple into society—you might find this one worth a look.

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