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posted by Snow on Friday March 15 2019, @06:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the nielson-smielson-ratings-mean-nothing-except-to-a-reality-tv-show-president dept.

YouTube Recommendations for 'Alt-Right' Videos have Dropped Dramatically, Study Shows:

Google has made "major changes" to its recommendations system on YouTube that have reduced the amount of "alt-right" videos recommended to users, according to a study led by Nicolas Suzor, an associate professor at Queensland University of Technology.

During the first two weeks of February, alt-right videos appeared in YouTube's "Up Next" recommendations sidebar 7.8 percent of the time (roughly one in 13). From Feb. 15 onward, that number dropped to 0.4 percent (roughly one in 250).

Suzor's study took random samples of 3.6 million videos, and used 81 channels listed on a recent study by Rebecca Lewis [.pdf] as a starting point. That list includes voices like Richard Spencer, an American white supremacist, but also includes more mainstream voices like Joe Rogan, who does not self-identify as alt-right but often plays host to more extremist voices on his podcast (including alt-right figures such as Alex Jones).

The drop appears significant, but it's difficult to figure precisely how that drop occurred. We don't know if YouTube is targeting 'alt-right' videos specifically or if the drop off is part of broader changes to YouTube's recommendation system.


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Sulla on Friday March 15 2019, @06:54PM (3 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Friday March 15 2019, @06:54PM (#814958) Journal

    I don't particularly care what a company chooses to do with their platform, but I also don't have to continue to use their platform. I was recently watching a Scott Adams video where he talked with someone about various ways the climate can be effected. Scott was playing the part of AGW advocate and the guest was a skeptic. Google included a nice little note at the bottom telling me that the video was fake news and in their additional reading it compared the video's content to denying the moon landing. Since that came up a few weeks ago I haven't used google to search, have not watched youtube, have not used their maps or any of their other page functions. I have used gmail but I am in the middle of buying a house and its a bad time to transition, but that will be coming soon. My phone is still android, so I will probably cease using it and go back to a blackberry 10 device.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Friday March 15 2019, @07:21PM (2 children)

    by Immerman (3985) on Friday March 15 2019, @07:21PM (#814980)

    Well, if you've got a AGW denier "playing the part of AGW advocate", then it's almost by definition fake news, is it not? At best they're going to misrepresent the arguments due to ignorance, and at worst via intentional deception.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @02:39PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 16 2019, @02:39PM (#815460)

      Why do you assume that an AGW skeptic is either ignorant or deceptive?

      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday March 16 2019, @07:18PM

        by Immerman (3985) on Saturday March 16 2019, @07:18PM (#815549)

        Well, for starters they're taking part in a straw-man argument by playing the part of a supporter, rather than arguing with someone who actually knows the facts.