A few days ago, Data & Society posted the transcript of a talk by danah boyd about YouTube as a news source and the platform's vulnerabilities can be exploited. She notes how propaganda is created to fill the “data voids” associated with search terms that suddenly become popular in the wake of a news event, and describes the resources being committed to reverse-engineering recommendation algorithms so that anyone watching videos with basic, mainstream information will be served recommendations for propagandistic content. “If you watch a health organization’s video and then you follow the recommendations you’re given or allow auto-play to continue, within two videos you will almost always be watching a conspiracy video,” she says. “Why? Because the communities that are trying to shape these connections understand how to produce connections.”
Moving the River
Moving the River
Moving the River
A few days ago, Data & Society posted the transcript of a talk by danah boyd about YouTube as a news source and the platform's vulnerabilities can be exploited. She notes how propaganda is created to fill the “data voids” associated with search terms that suddenly become popular in the wake of a news event, and describes the resources being committed to reverse-engineering recommendation algorithms so that anyone watching videos with basic, mainstream information will be served recommendations for propagandistic content. “If you watch a health organization’s video and then you follow the recommendations you’re given or allow auto-play to continue, within two videos you will almost always be watching a conspiracy video,” she says. “Why? Because the communities that are trying to shape these connections understand how to produce connections.”