YouTube Recommendation Engine Benefits Advertisers, Users?
September 17, 2019
Beware the YouTube recommendation engine, especially where the kids are concerned. We are warned by Scientific American in its piece, “YouTube’s Recommendation Algorithm Has a Dark Side.” (And, no, this is not about the pedophile thing.) Writer Zeynep Tufekci readily admits there is a lot of good information on YouTube. In fact, that is why just staying away is not an option for most internet users. He cautions us, though, not to go for the worthy instructions and stay for the captivating rubbish. He writes:
“‘How do I’ assemble that table, improve my stroke, decide if I’m a feminist, choose vaccinations, highlight my cheeks, tie my shoelaces, research whether climate change is real…? Someone on YouTube has an answer. But the site has also been targeted by extremists, conspiracy theorists and reactionaries who understand its role as a gateway to information, especially for younger generations. And therein lies the dark side: YouTube makes money by keeping users on the site and showing them targeted ads. To keep them watching, it utilizes a recommendation system powered by top-of-the-line artificial intelligence (it’s Google, after all). Indeed, after Google Brain, the company’s AI division, took over YouTube’s recommendations in 2015, there were laudatory articles on how it had significantly increased ‘engagement’: Silicon Valley–speak for enticing you to stay on the site longer. These ‘recommended’ videos play one after the other. … YouTube’s algorithms will push whatever they deem engaging, and it appears they have figured out that wild claims, as well as hate speech and outrage peddling, can be particularly so.”
We’re reminded that kids (most of whom do not have the experience to consistently discern good information from bad) are likely to go to Google-owned YouTube with their questions before any other search platform because, like it or not, they much prefer video to text. Couple that with the fact that Google’s Chromebooks, which come preloaded with YouTube, dominate the U.S. K-12 market. Grown-ups probably underestimate how much time young people spend on the platform, and especially how often they are lured away from approved educational fare.
Tufekci’s suggestion is for Google to disable the recommendation engine on schools’ Chromebooks. That would be a good place to start, but how do we convince a pusher to cut off its youngest and most vulnerable users? Legislation may be required.
Google wants engagement. Google wants revenue. Is the Google speak making these two factors too difficult for users to discern?
Cynthia Murrell, September 17, 2019
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