# Up next



## Frank S. (Feb 8, 2018)

I found this Guardian *article* interesting, mainly because it discusses recommendation algorithms used by Youtube, the type of content they push and therefore have a role in generating. There is a large amount pertaining to the 2016 election, but it is worth a read.

[...] Over the last 18 months, Chaslot has used the program to explore bias in YouTube content promoted during the French, British and German elections, global warming and mass shootings, and published his findings on his website, Algotransparency.org. Each study finds something different, but the research suggests YouTube systematically amplifies videos that are divisive, sensational and conspiratorial. [...]

[...] Jonathan Albright, research director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, who reviewed the code used by Chaslot, says it is a relatively straightforward piece of software and a reputable methodology. “This research captured the apparent direction of YouTube’s political ecosystem,” he says. “That has not been done before.” [...]

[...] William Ramsey, an occult investigator from southern California who made “Irrefutable Proof: Hillary Clinton Has a Seizure Disorder!”, shared screen grabs that showed the recommendation algorithm pushed his video even after YouTube had emailed him to say it violated its guidelines. Ramsey’s data showed the video was watched 2.4m times by US-based users before election day. “For a nobody like me, that’s a lot,” he says. [...]

If this has been posted before, mods please delete or merge as you see fit.


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## Gunz (Feb 8, 2018)

Everybody has an agenda. Some are a bit more subtle or nuanced...but if you spend a lot of time on the same site eventually you sense the drift.


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## Frank S. (Feb 9, 2018)

To push or shove, is that the question?


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## CQB (Feb 10, 2018)




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## Ooh-Rah (Feb 10, 2018)

CQB said:


>


Thank you!  I thought I was the only one.


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## DocIllinois (Feb 10, 2018)

My wife worked for Google for a number of years as a Search Content Quality Rater, judging the content of sample information searches based upon a tremendously extensive list of rules published by Google.

Those rules and her work were the guidance and continual feedback system supplying constantly evolving information search algorithms.  I would be surprised if similar systems weren't in place for companies that deal in content, and who have the money to hire contractors for this type of work.

The nuisance of critical thinking and the work of supplying car wrecks to stare at have been obviated for us all!


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## Frank S. (Feb 10, 2018)

Ooh-Rah said:


> Thank you!  I thought I was the only one.



S'truth! Superstition doth sell more than science.


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## x SF med (Feb 10, 2018)

and just because it's needed here....


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## CQB (Feb 10, 2018)

DocIllinois said:


> My wife worked for Google for a number of years as a Search Content Quality Rater, judging the content of sample information searches based upon a tremendously extensive list of rules published by Google.
> 
> Those rules and her work were the guidance and continual feedback system supplying constantly evolving information search algorithms.  I would be surprised if similar systems weren't in place for companies that deal in content, and who have the money to hire contractors for this type of work.
> 
> The nuisance of critical thinking and the work of supplying car wrecks to stare at have been obviated for us all!


Cross thread points to you! (iPhone 8 posts)


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## Frank S. (Mar 3, 2018)

Advertisers flee InfoWars founder Alex Jones' YouTube channel

"_Some of the biggest brands in the U.S. had ads running on the YouTube channels for far-right website InfoWars and its founder, notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and they say they had no idea YouTube was allowing their advertising to appear there._ [...]

[...] 
_Nike, like some of the other brands, opted in to a "sensitive subject exclusion" filter to better control where its ads appear. The exclusion filters include, according to YouTube: "Tragedy and Conflict;" "Sensitive Social Issues;" "Sexually Suggestive Content;" "Sensational & Shocking;" and "Profanity & Rough Language."

YouTube did not respond to questions from CNN about whether the channels should have been excluded by any of those filters.

"We have a filter and brand safety assurances from Google our content would never run around offensive content," a Paramount Network spokesperson said, adding that the company is trying to find out what "went wrong."

An Acer spokesperson confirmed the company also had reached out to its partners at YouTube, saying its "existing filters should have prevented this." The spokesperson said the company has set up additional filters to further block its ads from appearing on "divisive channels in the future."

"We take great measures to ensure our ads do not run on videos with sensitive content," a spokesperson for Grammarly, an online grammar-checker tool, told CNN on Friday. It was aware their ads had run on an InfoWars channel, the spokesperson said, and had been working closely with YouTube to ensure it didn't happen again.

A half hour after it sent CNN that statement, Grammarly ads were still running on an InfoWars YouTube channel. Its ads were also running on a YouTube channel that did not appear to be explicitly affiliated with InfoWars, but reposted InfoWars videos. _[...]

Spotify and Pandora can attest that AI works, and hell, I think the rec algorithms used by Pandora are really effective (for me). Google seems to have issues.
In the (twisted) words of George Michael, "guilty feet have got no rythm, should've known better than to cheat a friend, there's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find".
These things must happen but the end is still to come.


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## SaintKP (Mar 4, 2018)

First we're turning the frogs gay, now we're stopping them from wearing Nikes and having proper grammar?!

I think South Parks commentary on ads as a whole sums up my opinion nicely especially when it comes to Google's practices.


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## Ooh-Rah (Mar 4, 2018)

SaintKP said:


> First we're turning the frogs gay, now we're stopping them from wearing Nikes and having proper grammar?!


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## Marauder06 (Mar 4, 2018)

"YouTube systematically amplifies videos that are divisive, sensational and conspiratorial."

...because that's exactly the kind of content people are into.


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## Red Flag 1 (Mar 4, 2018)

Marauder06 said:


> "YouTube systematically amplifies videos that are divisive, sensational and conspiratorial."


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## BloodStripe (Mar 4, 2018)

If you want to play conspiracy, Robert Boorstin, who was an offical under Bill Clinton (his chief speech writer), was Google's (who owns YouTube) Director of Policy Communications. 

 About him: About Us | Albright Stonebridge Group


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## CQB (Mar 4, 2018)

This started due to ads popping up in inappropriate places. For example, Product placement appearing in a jihad video. “This beheading proudly brought to by KFC.”


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## Frank S. (Mar 4, 2018)

Maybe AI isn't a box of chocolates. You know exactly what you're gonna get.


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