Identify Probability of Request Originating from Bad User

Quick Overview

This interview question evaluates statistical assumptions, formulas, estimation strategy, uncertainty, edge cases, and interpretation in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Identify Probability of Request Originating from Bad User states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.

Identify Probability of Request Originating from Bad User

Company: Meta

Role: Data Scientist

Category: Statistics & Math

Difficulty: medium

Interview Round: Onsite

##### Scenario A social-network platform wants to measure and control abuse. Five percent of users are classified as "bad" and, on average, each bad user sends ten times more friend-requests than a good user. ##### Question If 5 % of users are bad and each bad user sends 10× as many friend-requests as a good user, what is the probability that a randomly selected request came from a bad user? Using only existing event logs, propose a method to identify the likely bad users. Given additional features (e.g., request timing, acceptance rate), derive P(good | request) with Bayes’ theorem. If you must shrink the confidence interval of that probability estimate to one-tenth its current width, what changes in data collection or analysis would you make? ##### Hints Apply Bayes rule, reason about class imbalance, increase sample size or variance-reduction, and design behavioral signals.

Overview: This interview question evaluates statistical assumptions, formulas, estimation strategy, uncertainty, edge cases, and interpretation in a realistic interview setting. A strong answer for Identify Probability of Request Originating from Bad User states assumptions, handles edge cases, explains trade-offs, and shows how to validate the result clearly.

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Aug 4, 2025
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Identify Probability of Request Originating from Bad User

Measuring Abuse in Friend-Requests: Bayes, Identification, and Precision

Scenario

A social-network platform wants to measure and control abuse. Five percent of users are classified as "bad" and, on average, each bad user sends 10× as many friend-requests as a good user.

Tasks

  1. Compute the probability that a randomly selected friend-request came from a bad user.
  2. Using only existing event logs, propose a method to identify the likely bad users.
  3. With additional features (e.g., request timing, acceptance rate), write an expression for P(good | request features) using Bayes' theorem.
  4. If you must shrink the confidence interval (CI) of that probability estimate to one-tenth its current width, what changes in data collection or analysis would you make?

Hints

  • Apply Bayes’ rule and reason about class imbalance and different activity rates.
  • Use unsupervised/weakly supervised signals from logs; normalize for exposure (tenure/active days).
  • CI width typically shrinks as 1/sqrt(n); consider variance-reduction techniques.

Clarifying Questions to Ask Guidance

  • Clarify the random variables, distributional assumptions, independence assumptions, and desired output.
  • Show enough derivation for the interviewer to follow the reasoning.
  • Explain how you would validate the result with simulation or sensitivity checks.

What a Strong Answer Covers Guidance

  • A correct setup with definitions, formulas, and boundary conditions.
  • A step-by-step derivation or estimation plan.
  • Interpretation of the result, including uncertainty and practical limitations.
  • Checks for assumptions, edge cases, and numerical stability.

Follow-up Questions Guidance

  • How would the result change if the assumptions were relaxed?
  • Can you verify the answer with a simulation?
  • What is the most likely source of estimation error?
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