Youtube is far better than facebook by the way.
I'm sorry to say it's really not. Two wings of the same bird.
From the book, regarding unrest fomented in Chemnitz, Germany against immigrants that was powered by fake news on YouTube:
Asked how many steps it would take, on average, for a YouTube viewer who pulled up a Chemnitz news clip to find themselves watching far-right propaganda, Serrato answered, "only two.'" He added, "By the second, you're quite knee-deep in the alt right."
Recommendations rarely led users back to mainstream news coverage, or to liberal or apolitical content of any kind. Once among extremists the algorithm tended to stay there, as if that had been the destination all along. . . .
. . . . YouTube, rather than activating a preexisting community with a preexisting identity, had created one out of nothing. It had built the network on its systems, pulled it together with a shared reality and beliefs, then willed it into the world, all in a matter of days. This was something much deeper than even the Facebook-inspired vigilante violence I'd seen in the country just a few months earlier.
Youtube was how I ever watched any Stewart or Colbert. Its got everybody. I may be unusual in that I am very knowledgeable about algorithms compared to the average person, and I know what life is like without the internet. I know when the algorithm is trying to find out what I think; but I don't think it takes that much intelligence to control one's youtube feed. I think its pretty navigable. If anything the main complaint is that whatever you watch it tries to give you more of.
For example I watch 1 video by Alexander James. Now youtube thinks I hate all women, so its hooking me up with videos about how terrible women are and also feminist videos. Its weird that way; but that is so much better than fb would be. I watch part of one The Young Turks and its going to try to send me a bunch of other things people like who watch lots of that. So in that respect its a bit too much.
YouTube's algorithm works by engagement. Whether you're just curious (how users initially get pulled in) about what the recommendation algorithm has offered up, or whether you agree or disagree or are doing research - it doesn't matter. You clicked, you get more. And the fringe is pushed to the front incessantly - small channels without a lot of followers getting massive view counts.
Your observation about YouTube thinking you hate all women - just bears that out. It's gonna keep pushing fringe at you, to keep you engaged. That's all it cares about. That's how you get from CNN to Alex Jones in just a few clicks. You're aware, that's good. But most people aren't.
I put that book on my wishlist last time you mentioned it. It seems something I may suggest to my group as a reading.
@anna. Tell me more about this book, please.
Thank you both for your interest! I'll post a thread as soon as I pull some book excerpts together and sorry if I sound like a zealot by repeating how important I believe this book to be for anyone spending time online involved in politics or politics-adjacent content - or - who wants to understand more about the thinking of people who've gone from being normal to just this side of insane-land in their conspiracy beliefs and political/social views.