Huffington Post: After New Zealand Massacre, YouTube’s Algorithm Still Promotes Islamophobic Videos
"Just hours after the attack, a search of the term “Muslims” from an incognito browser yielded a list of YouTube’s top-recommended videos, including one with 3.7 million views. The video argued, without evidence, that the majority of Muslims are radicalized. From there, YouTube’s autoplay function took over and recommended another round of videos. One apparently exposes “the truth” about Muslims. Another 'destroys Islam.' 'It’s an echo chamber,' said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a content review specialist at the Counter Extremism Project. 'The more an idea is repeated, the more it may reinforce a viewer’s belief that it is true.' Typing a question such as 'Is immigration bad?' into YouTube may ultimately lead to a rabbit hole of anti-immigrant content, Fisher-Birch explained. The platform’s incentive to promote such videos, he added, is a financial one. The longer people stay hooked on YouTube videos, the more advertising dollars the company rakes in."
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