A critical algorithmic justice movement has forced platform policy changes

Evidence

There is, however, one bright note: the rise of critical information science that seeks to systematically establish the distortions woven into social caching’s presentations of the world. There is now an emerging movement for algorithmic justice, which has raised awareness of many specific issues. The critical movement within data science concerned with “Fairness, Accountability and Transparency” has regular conferences, and a number of universities have focused programs for investigating how algorithms cover the social domain. More generally, an important intersection between critical information science, legal theory, and social theory is opening up the question of how the social qualification sector presents the social world for action by powerful institutions. US civil society has generated some effective campaigning. For example, ProPublica’s demonstration that it was straightforward to build implicit racial exclusions into housing advertisements led to Facebook adjusting its practice on monitoring ads. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 440

Categorization

• XREF: Algorithms “covering the social domain” and the social qualification sector maps onto the attention economy’s platform-power claims, showing overlap with the reader’s existing frame. — connects to: Empirical refutations of political echo chambers center on algorithms, not user choice — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 832; Activist technology and institutional structure are mutually constitutive, not separable — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 104; Platform moderation evolves through public negotiation rather than fixed rule enforcement. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 516

Broader Connections

• Activist technology and institutional structure are mutually constitutive, not separable #corroborates (0.75) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 104