Data privacy using a podium mechanism

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to perform operations comprising:
• storing a set of input data;
• generating a noise distribution based on a two-step function;
• receiving, from a messaging application, a request to access the set of input data;
• selecting a mode of the noise distribution between an exact mode and an approximation mode for evaluating an unconstrained parameter of the two-step function, the exact mode providing a value of the unconstrained parameter from a list of predetermined values of the unconstrained parameter, the approximation mode providing the value for the unconstrained parameter as a function of an exponential function and a constant;
• applying the noise distribution according to the selected mode to the set of input data to generate privatized noisy output data to prevent exposure to particular data points representing user information in the set of input data, the privatized noisy output data comprises random data added to the set of input data;
• and
• transmitting the privatized noisy output data.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that includes instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

• storing a set of input data;
• generating a noise distribution based on a two-step function;
• receiving, from a messaging application, a request to access the set of input data;
• selecting a mode of the noise distribution between an exact mode and an approximation mode for evaluating an unconstrained parameter of the two-step function, the exact mode providing a value of the unconstrained parameter from a list of predetermined values of the unconstrained parameter, the approximation mode providing the value for the unconstrained parameter as a function of an exponential function and a constant;
• applying the noise distribution according to the selected mode to the set of input data to generate privatized noisy output data to prevent exposure to particular data points representing user information in the set of input data, the privatized noisy output data comprises random data added to the set of input data;
• and
• transmitting the privatized noisy output data.