Excellent comment. Yes, it's terrifying to think of the social power of one silly banner on a huge website - that the bosses don't even notice! It's also really true, and I see it all the time on HN, that people expect data to make decisions rather than understanding that their own bias is shaping the data. Much of this ML data analysis approach is like shaping a huge statue on tiny legs, each person making it bigger and bigger at the top until it falls over.

The best thing about this story is it reminds you to be a rebel.