YouTube can curb misinformation when it chooses to prioritize doing so
Evidence
What they saw was evidence of a clear filter bubble: there was a very strong relationship between the number of recommendations to dodgy content made by YouTube and the likelihood that the original video was conspiratorial. For example, for the period between October 2018 and January of 2019, if you had watched a conspiracy video, the likelihood of getting a recommendation of another video about a conspiracy theory was about 70 per cent. To be fair, this number went down the closer we get to 2020, consistent with claims from YouTube that they have started to implement countermeasures, such as deleting millions of problematic videos and making tweaks to their algorithm. This is especially interesting because none of the recommendations featured misinformation about the coronavirus despite plenty of Covid-19 conspiracy theories floating on the platform. This reveals that YouTube can help prevent misinformation from spreading, as long as they consider it a priority. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 407
This is especially interesting because none of the recommendations featured misinformation about the coronavirus despite plenty of Covid-19 conspiracy theories floating on the platform. This reveals that YouTube can help prevent misinformation from spreading, as long as they consider it a priority. A letter signed by thirty-seven Members of the US Congress was sent to the CEO of YouTube confronting the company with the study’s findings. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 407
Categorization
- XREF: Extends ch3’s point that corrections and contextual factors shape belief, here to platform-level design choices. — connects to: Social platforms are culpable for fake news but culpability is not remediation — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age: How False…, 577
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 407
Broader Connections
- Social platforms are culpable for fake news but culpability is not remediation
#complicates(0.80) — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age, 577