Hello,
I've just read an article in the online version of my local newspaper which makes me think.
It's about the search function of YoUTube making people becoming more and more radical - by presenting more and more extremes.
The German-language article can be found here . https://www.ksta.de/ratgeber/digita...n-youtube-seine-nutzer-radikalisiert-31458582
The original, English-language article can be found here : https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/sunday/youtube-politics-radical.html
Quote from there :
This makes me think YouTube can be - and already is - used for political propaganda. You see a video - and get even more extreme ones. People learn from that, and learn how to exploit that. Brazil appears to be the newest example for that.
There is one linked article which makes me become even ore worried : It appears to be an investigation by The Wall Street Journal - on exactly this phenomenon of YouTubeRadicalization :
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478
This is worrying. This is the so far best example I can find that mass media is "nudging" us into directions we do not want.
Now, we are not controlled, we are driven. By our own built-in functions, exploited by programmers in media companies - and exploited by those who want to exploit us.
Alrik
I've just read an article in the online version of my local newspaper which makes me think.
It's about the search function of YoUTube making people becoming more and more radical - by presenting more and more extremes.
The German-language article can be found here . https://www.ksta.de/ratgeber/digita...n-youtube-seine-nutzer-radikalisiert-31458582
The original, English-language article can be found here : https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/sunday/youtube-politics-radical.html
Quote from there :
Intrigued, I experimented with nonpolitical topics. The same basic pattern emerged. Videos about vegetarianism led to videos about veganism. Videos about jogging led to videos about running ultramarathons.
It seems as if you are never “hard core” enough for YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. It promotes, recommends and disseminates videos in a manner that appears to constantly up the stakes. Given its billion or so users, YouTube may be one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century.
This is not because a cabal of YouTube engineers is plotting to drive the world off a cliff. A more likely explanation has to do with the nexus of artificial intelligence and Google’s business model. (YouTube is owned by Google.) For all its lofty rhetoric, Google is an advertising broker, selling our attention to companies that will pay for it. The longer people stay on YouTube, the more money Google makes.
This makes me think YouTube can be - and already is - used for political propaganda. You see a video - and get even more extreme ones. People learn from that, and learn how to exploit that. Brazil appears to be the newest example for that.
There is one linked article which makes me become even ore worried : It appears to be an investigation by The Wall Street Journal - on exactly this phenomenon of YouTubeRadicalization :
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478
Mr. Chaslot worked on the recommender algorithm while at YouTube. He grew alarmed at the tactics used to increase the time people spent on the site. Google fired him in 2013, citing his job performance. He maintains the real reason was that he pushed too hard for changes in how the company handles such issues.
The Wall Street Journal conducted an investigation of YouTube content with the help of Mr. Chaslot. It found that YouTube often “fed far-right or far-left videos to users who watched relatively mainstream news sources,” and that such extremist tendencies were evident with a wide variety of material. If you searched for information on the flu vaccine, you were recommended anti-vaccination conspiracy videos.
It is also possible that YouTube’s recommender algorithm has a bias toward inflammatory content.
What we are witnessing is the computational exploitation of a natural human desire: to look “behind the curtain,” to dig deeper into something that engages us. As we click and click, we are carried along by the exciting sensation of uncovering more secrets and deeper truths. YouTube leads viewers down a rabbit hole of extremism, while Google racks up the ad sales.
This situation is especially dangerous given how many people — especially young people — turn to YouTube for information. Google’s cheap and sturdy Chromebook laptops, which now make up more than 50 percent of the pre-college laptop education market in the United States, typically come loaded with ready access to YouTube.
This is worrying. This is the so far best example I can find that mass media is "nudging" us into directions we do not want.
Now, we are not controlled, we are driven. By our own built-in functions, exploited by programmers in media companies - and exploited by those who want to exploit us.
Alrik