Algorithmic feeds convert the open Internet into personalized echo chambers

Evidence

The result is the well-known problem of “news silos” that feed polarization and fragmentation in media content. If we get our news from social media, we can tune out those sources we don’t like, just as we can unfriend people who disagree with our political opinions. Whether our news feeds are reliable or fact free will depend on vetting by our friends and the algorithm that Facebook uses to decide which news stories we will “like” more than others. How ironic that the Internet, which allows for immediate access to reliable information by anyone who bothers to look for it, has for some become nothing but an echo chamber. And how dangerous. With no form of editorial control over what is now sometimes presented as “news,” how can we know when we are being manipulated? — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 192

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the reader’s earlier chapter contrast between self-imposed silos and state-driven propaganda; the source of vetting shifts from editors to friends plus algorithm. — connects to: Algorithmic personalization erodes the shared public space that allows surprise — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1287; Automated recommendation feeds can expose teenagers to thousands of radicalizing videos — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 381; Filter bubbles personalize content invisibly unlike self-chosen echo chambers — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 392 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Algorithmic personalization fragments viewing into solipsistic echo chambers that block encounter with the other #corroborates (1.00) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 209
• Internet personalization fragments common knowledge into a billion oppositional realities #corroborates (0.95) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 492
• Personalized internet feeds destroyed shared common knowledge and split the public into oppositional realities #corroborates (0.90)
• Algorithm-curated friendship narrows one’s social world into a self-reinforcing echo #exemplifies (0.80)
• Open docket design can counter the Internet’s affinity for like-minded echo chambers #responds-to (0.75) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 739
• The Internet lets individuals bypass gatekeepers and create personalized symbolic environments #complicates (0.75)