YouTube Gamed Into Recommending Russian Propaganda on Mueller Report

Guillaume Chaslot:

One week after the release of the Mueller report, which analysis of it did YouTube recommend from the most channels among the 1000+ channels that I monitor daily?

Russia Today’s!

This video funded by the Russian government was recommended more than half a million times from more than 236 different channels. […]

Technology can enable two worlds:

  1. One where accountability keeps cheaters in check

  2. One where social media is manipulated by armies of fake accounts

I’m on Facebook’s case more frequently, but YouTube might be just as complicit in distributing massive-scale propaganda pushed by fake accounts they could surely detect but don’t in the name of the almighty god both companies worship: engagement. They both use devilishly clever algorithms to target this propaganda, not to flag it.

★ Friday, 26 April 2019