“Its search and recommender algorithms are misinformation engines.”If YouTube’s recommendation algorithm really has evolved to promote more disturbing content, how did that happen? ‘Like reality, but distorted’Play Video 3:13 How YouTube's algorithm distorts reality – video explainerThose are not easy questions to answer. “The recommendation algorithm is not optimising for what is truthful, or balanced, or healthy for democracy.”Chaslot explains that the algorithm never stays the same. The senator demanded to know what the company was specifically doing to prevent a “malign incursion” of YouTube’s recommendation system. YouTube’s algorithm may have developed its biases organically, but could it also have been nudged into spreading those videos even further?

Source: The Guardian February 02, 2018 12:00 UTC