YouTube To Curb Conspiracy Theory Video Recommendations (venturebeat.com)

YouTube said today that it is retooling its recommendation algorithm that suggests new videos to users in order to prevent promoting conspiracies and false information, reflecting a growing willingness to quell misinformation on the world's largest video platform after several public missteps. From a report: These recommendations all too often serve up unsavory content: ludicrous conspiracy theories about mass-shooting events being staged, far-fetched proclamations that the moon landing never happened, and hare-brained notions that the Earth on which we live is, well, flat. Moving forward, YouTube promises that you'll see less of those kinds of videos. This is similar to moves it's made in the past to reduce clickbaity recommendations, or videos that are slight variations on something else you've watched.

"We'll continue that work this year, including taking a closer look at how we can reduce the spread of content that comes close to -- but doesn't quite cross the line of -- violating our Community Guidelines," YouTube said in a blog post. "While this shift will apply to less than one percent of the content on YouTube, we believe that limiting the recommendation of these types of videos will mean a better experience for the YouTube community."

Comments

And soon enough on some growing PHPBB forum...

[Z80a]

"See? NASA made youtube to DELETE all the flat earth videos to hide the truth!"

Who determines what is unsavory?

[JamesNorton]

"These recommendations all too often serve up unsavory content:" Which overlord(s) will determine for the algorithm what is considered "unsavory"?

Re:Who determines what is unsavory?

[squiggleslash]

But what if I find flat-earth conspiracy videos HILARIOUS!? Does it even occur to the censors-that-be that some people find conspiracy theories entertaining?

1. How is this new policy censorship?
2. How will it prevent you in any way from watching these videos?

This is about recommendations, you know, the videos that autoplay after the one you selected if you opened it in a new browser and hadn't had a chance to turn autoplay off. It's not about what YouTube will or will not allow on its platform.

Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True

[pgmrdlm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

It is not even close to the top of my list to listen to Conspiracy Theories. Hell, I usually tell people to wrap that tin foil hat a little tighter. But it is a fact that there are Conspiracy Theories that have turned out to be true. Who the fuck is google(notice my link is youtube) to say what is true and what is not.