I'm starting to wonder if social networking sites (@facebook, @Twitter) and search sites (@Google) of today are similar to web browser engines around 2003 (?) or so, around when use-after-free had just been demonstrated to be a reliable security exploit.

Around this time, I think Microsoft stopped feature development for an extended period of time and focus on software security across Windows and Internet Explorer. This made a big difference to security. (It may have had interesting effects on the progress of Web technology.)

Are @facebook and @Twitter and @Google now looking at gaming of their algorithms as a security vulnerability the way we in the browser world now look at things that could give sites the ability to execute arbitrary code on a user's computer?

And to be clear: norms in the browser engine world are moving towards multiple layers of protection: writing code in safer languages, aggressively fixing even potential vulnerabilities, tools for software auditing, sandboxing that prevents many APIs from being called, etc.

I'm not entirely sure what the equivalents would be in search and recommendation algorithms. I'm not an expert in those fields. But I think if the best minds in those fields see it as a problem to be solved, there will be serious movement towards solutions.

I think their challenge is harder. Our solutions didn't directly impact revenue; theirs probably would have to.