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A comment on Jonathan Albright, a Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News. Parent comment

Re:Jonathan Albright, a Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News by untog on Saturday July 28, 2018 @12:13PM (#17633731)
UHF does not have an algorithm behind it recommending you content. No one goes to YouTube because they are interested in fake news, they go with the intention of being informed but watch a video with false content in it. Then YouTube's algorithms show them more and more fake content in an attempt to keep them watching.
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Re:Jonathan Albright, a Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News by kryogen1c on Saturday July 28, 2018 @12:24PM (#17633778)
> Then YouTube's algorithms show them more and more fake content in an attempt to keep them watching.

Have a source for that claim? I watch a lot of YouTube with one account and it only recommends things similiar to what I already watch. There's no sudden fake news switch to Fox news or CNN or... anything, really.

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Re:Jonathan Albright, a Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News by untog on Saturday July 28, 2018 @12:35PM (#17633827)
This is a pretty interesting account of the recommendation algorithms at work:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/sunday/youtube-po...

It links to this WSJ investigation:

How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-t...

I suspect people who watch a lot of YouTube aren't as badly affected as there is a large dataset to recommend from.

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Re:Jonathan Albright, a Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News by bostik on Saturday July 28, 2018 @03:04PM (#17634465)
While not a source for OP's claim, there's evidence[0] that YT's algorithms incentivise viewers towards ever more extreme content. [ß]

The logic is simple: the more reactions a piece of content generates, the more it will be recommended. "Fake news", at least in the form of incendiary propaganda, is designed to invoke strong emotions. In the case of YouTube (probably applies to FB too), the compound effect is pure amplification.

In a way one could say that YouTube and propaganda thrive from a perverse symbiotic relationship.

0: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/02/how-youtu...

ß: You can easily find other news items on the same topic, but they tend to have either have a paywall or GDPR modal.

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