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Senator Warns YouTube Algorithm May Be Open To Manipulation By 'Bad Actors' (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee has warned that YouTube's powerful recommendation algorithm may be "optimizing for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content" or susceptible to "manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities." Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.
"Companies like YouTube have immense power and influence in shaping the media and content that users see," Warner said. "I've been increasingly concerned that the recommendation engine algorithms behind platforms like YouTube are, at best, intrinsically flawed in optimizing for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content." He added: "At worst, they can be highly susceptible to gaming and manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities." YouTube's algorithm determines which videos to promote in the "Up next" column beside the video player. The Guardian found that "the algorithm was six times more likely to recommend videos that was damaging to Clinton than Trump, and also tended to amplify wild conspiracy theories about the former secretary of state."
"Companies like YouTube have immense power and influence in shaping the media and content that users see," Warner said. "I've been increasingly concerned that the recommendation engine algorithms behind platforms like YouTube are, at best, intrinsically flawed in optimizing for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content." He added: "At worst, they can be highly susceptible to gaming and manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities." YouTube's algorithm determines which videos to promote in the "Up next" column beside the video player. The Guardian found that "the algorithm was six times more likely to recommend videos that was damaging to Clinton than Trump, and also tended to amplify wild conspiracy theories about the former secretary of state."
More Russia! Russia! Russia! from BeauHD
Ok the Republicans said the same about Democratic videos popping up against Trump. So which is real? Can we can the # of times that pro-Trump and pro-Hillary videos actually ran and unique views by person? We never will because it would reveal too much about Google's algorithms.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
If we stipulate that (shudder) Youtube, Facebook, and other influential social media outlets are places where political opinion is formed, then they are news sites.
Even if users are unable or unwilling to recognize this fact, folks whose business it is to shape public opinion realize and exploit these forums... including their founders and overseers.
The degree to which your discomfort with this enrages you is in direct proportion to your political bend and who's currently winning hearts and minds.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
My "Up next" column on YouTube contains good documentaries and/or Lets Plays by high quality gamers. It is comparable a mirror image of my personal preferences.
If the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate looks into a mirror and sees propaganda or "outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content", then surely the one to blame is the mirror.
I'm really getting tired of hearing about how Facebook, YouTube, or any other form of social media is "manipulating the masses". Social Media is supposed to be entertainment, not a fucking source of news, facts, and shit you use to guide you in your life's decisions.
I think we should give up on trying to fix Stupid. Find a way to quarantine it off or something. Colonize a new country of citizens that still believe in common sense, rational thought, and intelligent discourse. One thing is for certain; if we continue to monetize and reward stupidity, you can expect the devolution to continue.
Disclaimer: i work at Google.
Are there more anti-Clinton videos than anti-Trump videos on YouTube? If so, most Bayesian methods will recommend you an anti-Clinton video... unless if you apply a completely partisan bias that enforces equal time for both sides (or even mute out the other side).
In my opinion, the reason there are more anti-Clinton videos on YouTube is simply because there are just too many people who can't find their views represented in the mainstream media. So, if the mainstream media will just stop calling everyone who doesn't echo their agenda an "alt-right", and instead, reason with them, the videos will most likely just go away.
Today Democrats still have close to the entire mainstream media firmly behind their narrative, and Colbert's show is still the most viewed on YouTube. So why the paranoia?
Remember, strike out their voices, and they will become powerful than you could possibly imagine.
I'm sure the same thing happens at a smaller scale. Channels know the keywords to use, the video stills to advertise the content, the baiting language to get the views. Once the views go up the ranking algorithm makes the video more prominent, perpetuating the process. And if it can be done for commercial reasons it surely can be done for political or propaganda purposes.
Since it appears we have reached the point where too many Americans believe things like Hillary is running a child sex slave ring on Mars I'd just like to say it's been fun but I think we are well and truly fucked at this point.
This is really just another "failure" like Tey where the problem is just that it is a reflection of how people want to use the technology. The algorithm is "failing" because divisiveness, tribalism, hatred, not challenging people to think and a deep seated pride in willful ignorance fuled by confidence in whatever you believe is real is what the free market wants because that's what people want. The real bad actors are those that don't teach people to think critically from a young age, if you don't know what's real it's not even possible to act in your own self interest - people make choices they never would have if they only had a clear understanding of reality.
Tom Cruise
Video of Gowdy getting Comey to admit under oath that Clinton lied under oath at least 6 times. We call that perjury and it is ILLEGAL. It was referred to the FBI to bring up charges, but Stroke decided to toss that referral in the trash and not follow up, which is not an exoneration but instead an obstruction of justice by Stroke.
So there you go, outright evidence of Clinton being a criminal.
EOM
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
As Isaac Asimov said, many years ago...
"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
Social media has its place - entertaining, yes but certainly not informing and enlightening.
Sadly, the comfort zone 'bubble' appeals to those of all political and religious persuasions and, far from being 'social', recent system have been ever more divisive.
Either you're intentionally lying, or you have such rose colored glasses on that I doubt you think anybody is corrupt. Unless of course you have been told to dislike somebody by somebody else.
They tried to be anonymous ... but the system saw them watching anti-hillary videos and started to tailor the content ...
The algorithm worked ... it did it's job, it started with the most popular videos (click bate), then as they searched and watched it instantly tailored to what they were doing ...
Puteulanus fenestra mortis
Nothing to add besides the title.
Channels about chemistry, logical thinking, social discourse, physics, etc. are demonetized at the drop of a hat, but we have Pewdiepie, menstrual blood "art" and pop stars wearing strap-on dildoes at the top.
Social media is not about liberal notions like free speech, education, science. It's about doing everything possible to keep eyes focused on the stream of shit for as long as possible. The byproduct is the algorithms that select the carefully crafted stream of diarrhea ensure everyone stays in their same lane, comfort bubble.
Discourse, critical thinking are the backbone of western societies. We're in trouble.
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
"I've been increasingly concerned that the recommendation engine algorithms behind platforms like YouTube are, at best, intrinsically flawed in optimizing for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content."
And how is that possibly any business of the federated government of the United States of America? It doesn't matter if it's true or not, it's none of their durn business to begin with.
Senator Warner, I know you are a smart guy, you're one of the Senators for my beloved state, but don't you think the federal government has just a few problems of its own more compelling than YouTube algorithms?
Butt out. Start doing your own job and leave us alone.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
That sweater guy from Pennsylvania. He attained lasting fame in the internet as The Santorum.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
YouTube Algorithm May Be Open To Manipulation By 'Bad Actors'
You leave Jean-Claude Van Damme alone! He tries his best.
Have you seen some of that Star Trek fan fiction that's posted on YouTube? It's unwatchable! I mean, obviously the effort is there and bless them they put their hearts into it but the poor guys just can't act to save their lives.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
What is even more damaging is CNN's and Foxnews selection algorithm. The algorithm used to select headlines and editorial content by The New York Times and Washington Post are also damaging. In fact all of mainstream media could be said to have the same affliction.
We're waiting on Medicare for All, College for all, Infrastructure spending, ending the wars and living wage (among other things). If this was some wackadoodle from the House I could put up with this, but it's the Senate. This isn't just that they have better things to be doing, it's that they know they have those better things and they're not doing them; probably because they've been bought off.
Show up to your primary folks and vote these people out.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign
That describes pretty much all of Hollywood.
Have gnu, will travel.
Bernie supporters and Trump/GOP supporters were pushing Hillary is bad videos, watching them, sharing them, commenting on them. So of course more anti-Hillary videos came up.
Isn't this pretty much SEO?
The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
He's a white guy, as he says, swears less than his Mormon mon, so go figure, all you politically correct people who are probably the ones against just being correct.
Or is it more insidious - we don't want people learning actual facts about how things work, and being empowered to do what they can imagine? Most of his stuff has nothing to do with a very poor pyrotechnic substance.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
Why the hell does everyone try to defend HIllary!? She needs to be swept out of politics with the broom she rode in on.
Why continue to attack Hillary? I couldn't care less what she did or didn't do. Last I checked, she's neither in office nor running for office. She HAS been swept out of politics. Remember when DJT won? I won't waste my time defending her; I'm just asking why anyone still cares.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
YouTube
Alphabet
Google
Employees of all of the above.
The political party supported by all of the above.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
corporatists do. There are right wing corporate hacks on both sides. The media sides not with a party, but with the ultra wealthy.
As for the parties, The Dems have Chuck Shumer and Fienstien. The Rs have, well.... pretty much the entire party. On the Dem side I've at least got Bernie Sanders and Liz Warren. I don't think I can point to a single R that has consistently voted in favor of the working class. The tax bill, for example, is us borrowing a $1 trillion dollars to give it away to the richest 1%. Paul Ryan has already started leveraging it for entitlement 'reform', e.g. taking away Social Security & Medicare from anyone under 55...
You're right about not insulting the alt-right. The alt-right aren't particularly right wing. It's really just a bunch of guys who can't get jobs and women (after all, first you get the money, _then_ you get the women). Oh, and a few at the top bilking them for money. Still, talking down to the folks in the rust belt who's manufacturing jobs are gone doesn't help; nor does telling them to go back to school (especially when the cheap bastards telling them that won't lift a finger to help. And no, knocking 2% off a 15% student loan doesn't count as 'helping').
Still, the only folks offering real solutions are the real left. Go look up Justice Democrats, which is the left wing movement in the Dem party, if you want to see anything actually get fixed.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Hmm....I guess the left leaning liberals aren't satisfied by having most of the regular media in their court (ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN)....they now want to make it so that internet related access to both sides of the issues are squashed and only show their side too?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
So it WASN'T the RUSSIANS! It was GOOGLE! We've heard enough talk, STRING 'EM UP!
So let me get this right? You just happen to feel strongly enough to make this "extremely funny" post anonymously and then within hours two other people pissed themselves laughing and just had to mod your hilarious anonymous post up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... There is no way those guys are real ^^^ There is no way that if they were real they'd be interested in a silly place like youtube There is no way in the world that you're not sitting in St Petersburg right now pulling your pud with your other pals from your dvachan days. Got it, please if you want to use some of your awesome american humor to explain anything else go ahead but warn me first so I don't spit beer all over my screen or piss myself laughing.
I still haven't even figured out why some assholes think being "divisive" is a bad thing. People do have differing opinions/goals/values and that is an objective fact. People need to talk out their disagreements. Division is a good thing to see, because division is a real thing that exists.
Granted, lots of lies are spoken (and that's not the same thing as a differing opinions/goals/values) and that sucks. But I'd rather fight bullshit -- no, I'd rather live in a world full of bullshit up to my fucking neck -- than let the government Do Something About "divisive" speech. Even having a piece-of-shit president is better than not letting Nazis explain what assholes they are. I want Nazis to say what they're thinking. It's worth suffering a weak president if it means we don't have to all pretend we're all on the same page about everything.
Some day the person-you-hate-in-government will be gone, and we'll still have to live in America. So, my fellow Americans, please don't fuck up America. Keep your hands off Youtube, senators. Government regulation of speech is way more threatening than the stinkiest, stupidest, most-possibly-dishonest propaganda.
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
Why attack Clinton? Because one, she still enjoys the support and protection of corrupt Democrats.
And two, it is still unclear whether or not she and other members of the ruling elite are above the law.
The pervasiveness and extent of the corruption in vital institutions has yet to be fully explored, and focusing on Clinton puts a magnifying glass over the heads of the swamp creatures that infest Washington DC. Noone should be allowed to act with impunity to abuse public office in order to enrich themselves or their friends, or compromise the public trust, and not be held accountable.
Not to mention 90% of the "Trending" political feed I see on FB is anti-Trump rhetoric from HuffPost, The Hill, Alternet , and other clearly biased media. Yahoo is the same way if not worse, every fourth news article of theirs is from Huffpost.
This senator's accusation is so delusional it's really laughable. Google being pro Trump, okay, sure, whatever.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
FTA:
"Chaslot explains that the algorithm never stays the same. It is constantly changing the weight it gives to different signals: the viewing patterns of a user, for example, or the length of time a video is watched before someone clicks away. "
"The engineers he worked with were responsible for continuously experimenting with new formulas that would increase advertising revenues by extending the amount of time people watched videos."
So basically it doesn't care what the content is, just that people are watching it, hence it recommends it. Yeah real threat to Democracy....
"Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election."
The conventional media and the Washington establishment assumed that Clinton was a shoe-in for President. The fact that the majority of Americans voted for Trump demonstrated that they didn't accept the msg. Trying to foist blame onto Facebook or the Russians is disingenuous in the extreme. Trump was good entertainment but no one seriously expected him to win. The golden shower dossier and similar are an attempt to have Trump removed. A conspiracy by elements of the deepstate. A palace coup in all but name.
Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.
/. readers know Google is uber liberal. For Warner to say the "Google-owned video platform" damaged Hillary's campaign is nothing short of ludicrous! Hillary lost and the Dems need to get over it.
She ran a lousy campaign (and didn't bother with Wisconsin, one of the states she lost), she thought she was to be anointed president and never mind with the silly election, she lied constantly, she had no plan, she espoused the most destructive identity politics, and she probably believed all the drooling we-love-yous from the liberal media. And, of course, there is the matter of alleged felonies and the FBI writing a get-out-of-jail-free finding two months prior to her being interviewed by the FBI! Does anyone think it odd that the FBI interviewed her without her being under oath? If you weren't paying attention, we had people at the highest levels of the government doing everything possible to get her elected. Their actions contributed to a country that can no longer be considered a democratic republic.
IMHO she lost in no small measure because voters actually want to retain our democracy. And we want jobs, a healthy and growing economy, respect for laws and for our military, police, and other first responders, and perhaps most of all, we want to keep our precious FREEDOMS!
Dems, stop all the atrocious lying. We see right through you.
Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
Most of the russian trolls sound like that. Besides even if they're just idiots who don't want to believe that the russians have a commercial trolling agency that contracts with the government... it will piss them off. I don't know why anyone would deny it though. Even the USA has been caught engaging in political internet trolling. Internet Research Agency is just the former Russian Business Network with an infusion of talent from 2ch.ru. I personally knew some of these dvachan (2ch.ru) people online for years before it became their job and dealt with the RBN back when storm worm was a thing.
http://uainfo.org/blognews/332... Sorry perhaps you'd like it if I cited an original source in russian?
It doesn't make me feel dumb when you do BUT MUH ROADS either yuri
Like I care Vlad. What you going to do about it? Watch out folks! Putin has run out of patience Judo chop incoming! Accusing morons on the internet of being a paid trolls is much more effective dealing with morons and actual paid trolls than the reactions they usually get. Nobody wants to post about reptile Obama and safe spaces and nobody is going to pay anyone to make political shitposts if they know the result will be getting called slavic names and laughed at .......ok Adolf?