Google’s YouTube is still recommending extremist and white supremacist videos to viewers already susceptible to racial hatred, a new report found. Though the nation’s most popular social media platform has removed large amounts of extremist content under political pressure, exposure to harmful videos is still common, and users who view extremist videos are still being recommended new clips in the same vein, according to a national study that ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) released Friday, an advance copy of which was shared exclusively with U.S. TODAY. One in 10 study participants viewed at least one video from an extremist channel and 2 in 10 viewed at least one video from an “alternative” channel, according to the study, which examined the viewing habits of 915 respondents. The study’s authors defined extremist and alternative by drawing from published research on online radicalization. The mainculprit? YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. When users watched these videos, they were more likely to see and follow recommendations to similar videos, the study found. The researchers discovered, for example, that users who already viewed extremist videos on YouTube were recommended other extremist videos to watch almost 30% of the time. People who aren’t already watching extremist YouTube videos were very unlikely to be channeled toward that type of content, showing that some of the company’s efforts to limit hate speech are working. Recommendations to potentially harmful videos after viewing other types of videos was also rare. The ADL says the findings underscore the need for platforms to remove violent extremist groups and content that fuel real-world violence like the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.
via techxplore: YouTube continues to push dangerous videos to users susceptible to extremism, white supremacy, report finds
