Automated recommendation feeds can expose teenagers to thousands of radicalizing videos

Evidence

As a teenager, Caleb was hanging out in places like YouTube where – over a relatively short period of time – he fell into a rabbit hole, watching close to 12,000 videos containing mostly right-wing extremist content. Caleb was pulled into an echo chamber perpetuating blatant conspiracy theories, misogyny, and racism. But after several years at the epicentre of this rabbit hole, he finally started denouncing extremist content on his own YouTube channel in 2019. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 381

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the filter-bubble and algorithmic-radicalization literature (e.g. Zeynep Tufekci and the ‘former YouTube radical’ memoir genre the author later cites). — connects to: Creators hijack recommendation algorithms to expose radicalized users to rebuttals — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 385; Radicalization stories overstate the causal role of recommendation algorithms — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 387; Algorithmic content filtering can funnel users toward polarization and extremism — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 476 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• A majority of studies find YouTube’s recommender is a gateway to problematic content #corroborates (0.95) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 415
• Algorithmic content filtering can funnel users toward polarization and extremism #corroborates (0.90) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 476
• YouTube’s recommender still steers viewers toward same-category harmful videos despite algorithm changes #corroborates (0.90) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 411
• Creators hijack recommendation algorithms to expose radicalized users to rebuttals #complicates (0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 385
• Algorithmic feeds convert the open Internet into personalized echo chambers #exemplifies (0.85) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 192
• Radicalization stories overstate the causal role of recommendation algorithms #contradicts (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 387
• Online environments are compressing radicalization from years to months #expands (0.80) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 177
• Recruiting media helped the Internet radicalize young hate-group members #corroborates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1300
• A tiny minority of motivated users drives most extreme content consumption #qualifies (0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 412
• Personalized internet feeds destroyed shared common knowledge and split the public into oppositional realities #expands (0.75)
• Online radicalization recruits people by speaking persuasively to their personal anxieties #corroborates (0.72) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 384
• Online multimedia makes hate groups appear mainstream and recruits young members #expands (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1300