A new study of YouTube’s algorithm attracting mainstream attention this weekend claims that the online video giant “actively discourages” radicalization on the platform. And if that sounds suspect to you, it should.
The study flies in the face of everything we know about YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. There has been plenty of evidence that it pulls users down a rabbit hole of extremist content. A 2018 study of videos recommended to political viewers during the 2016 election found that an overwhelming majority were pro-Trump. Far-right allies of the authoritarian Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil say he and they wouldn’t have won election without YouTube. Read more…
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