KK wrote:Most of the stuff I see on Twitter is left leaning, Instagram pretty balanced, the rest on the right (Facebook, YouTube, BBC comments, Twitch...not that I use that much).
The problem with YouTube is obvious. You watch one Tucker Carlson video and they’ll start recommending all sorts of wacky, conspiratorial stuff. I think it’s intentionally weighted (which, I guess, is also CONSPIRACY TALK) but it’s not like my TV home page recommends I ever watch PlayStation videos.
There was a report a while back that speculated that the reason conspiracy content is so quick to fly up the recommendations lists, is because the people who are genuinely into it, will sit and watch hours of it. The algorithm, as it was at the time, is geared to find videos that keep people watching longer, more eyes on screen for more time means more ad revenue, and so it erroneously concludes that conspiracy videos are good content that makes people want to watch for a very long time, so as soon as you show an interest in content that overlaps, politics, video games, pizza, you'd get flooded with recommendations for the most batshit conspiracy stuff.
Youtube said they've made changes to their algorithm, which is as close as you'll get to confirmation from them that the speculation was correct, but so long as a small number of nutters keep watching that stuff, it's going to keep cropping up unsolicited in other people's feeds.