via ResearchBuzz Firehose (thanks Tara): Timothy B. Lee in Ars Rechnica
Opinion: The case against YouTube’s toxic “up next” algorithm.
In The New York Times, reporters Max Fisher and Amanda Taub explain how YouTube propelled the career of controversial Brazilian politician Jair Bolsonaro. Before his election as Brazil’s president, they write, Bolsonaro “had long used the platform to post hoaxes and conspiracies.”
Ostensibly, YouTube’s recommendation algorithms are politically neutral. However, they’re optimized to boost “engagement,”and in practice that means promoting videos with extremist and conspiratorial points of view. In Brazil, that has meant bringing a cadre of far-right social media stars to prominence, ultimately helping them gain power in national politics.
According to the Times, Brazilians are also increasingly turning to “Dr. YouTube” – relying on YouTube videos rather than conventional professionals for medical advice.
“Harvard researchers found that YouTube’s systems frequently directed users who searched for information on Zika, or even those who watched a reputable video on health issues, toward conspiracy channels,” the reporters write.
We’ve seen similar developments here in the United States, where social media has boosted the profile of anti-vaccine activists.
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Showing posts with label recommendations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recommendations. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 August 2019
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
A toothless bite? The effectiveness of the European Employment Strategy as a governance tool
an article by Paul Copeland (University of London, UK) and Beryl ter Haar (Amsterdam Institute of Advanced Labour Studies and The University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) published in Journal of European Social Policy Volume 23 Number 1 (February 2013)
Abstract
This article concerns the effectiveness of the European Employment Strategy (EES) as a governance tool.
It analyses the policy measures of the Member States with regard to the commonly agreed guidelines and the country-specific recommendations of the Council. To analyse the policy measures the paper introduces a new quantitative method, which is applied to ten EU Member States during 2005–2009.
After presenting the results, the paper subsequently analyses the level of follow-up with regard to future intended reforms within the Member States and their level of responses to the country-specific recommendations.
Although it is difficult to attribute the reforms within the Member States to the EES, the analysis reveals that it is hard to get Member States to move beyond their national priorities, resulting in the EES being a weak governance tool.
Abstract
This article concerns the effectiveness of the European Employment Strategy (EES) as a governance tool.
It analyses the policy measures of the Member States with regard to the commonly agreed guidelines and the country-specific recommendations of the Council. To analyse the policy measures the paper introduces a new quantitative method, which is applied to ten EU Member States during 2005–2009.
After presenting the results, the paper subsequently analyses the level of follow-up with regard to future intended reforms within the Member States and their level of responses to the country-specific recommendations.
Although it is difficult to attribute the reforms within the Member States to the EES, the analysis reveals that it is hard to get Member States to move beyond their national priorities, resulting in the EES being a weak governance tool.
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