A tiny minority of motivated users drives most extreme content consumption

Evidence

Of course, you could argue that if someone clicks on extremist content on the platform, 100 per cent of the recommendations should go towards similar channels if YouTube were truly optimizing for extremism. That’s clearly not the case. In fact, the study also revealed that extremist recommendations were very unlikely to occur if people were watching mainstream content. Moreover, just a small group of users (11 per cent) appeared responsible for about 80 per cent of the alternative videos watched. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 412

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Automated recommendation feeds can expose teenagers to thousands of radicalizing videos — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 381; A majority of studies find YouTube’s recommender is a gateway to problematic content — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 415; Most people do not actively seek out polarizing content when browsing freely — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 465 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Most people do not actively seek out polarizing content when browsing freely #corroborates (0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 465
• Algorithmic-radicalization narratives may overstate causation since most frustrated users stay moderate #qualifies (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 387