YouTube's Algorithms Blamed For Brazil's Dangerous Conspiracy Video-Sharing on WhatsApp (nytimes.com) 69
Sunday the New York Times reported that YouTube "radicalized" Brazil -- by "systematically" diverting users to conspiracy videos. Yet conventional wisdom in Brazil still puts the blame on WhatsApp, the Times reported in a follow-up story on Thursday shared by Slashdot reader AmiMoJo.
"Everything began to click into place when we met Luciana Brito, a soft-spoken clinical psychologist who works with families affected by the Zika virus." Her work had put her on the front lines of the struggle against conspiracy theories, threats and hatred swirling on both platforms. And it allowed her to see what we -- like so many observers -- had missed: that WhatsApp and YouTube had come to form a powerful, and at times dangerous, feedback loop of extremism and misinformation. Either platform had plenty of weaknesses on its own. But, together, they had formed a pipeline of misinformation, spreading conspiracy theories, campaign material and political propaganda throughout Brazil.
The first breakthrough came when we spoke to Yasodara Cordova, who at the time was a researcher at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Illiteracy remains widespread in some parts of Brazil, she said, ruling out text-based social media or news sources for many people. And TV networks can be low-quality, which has helped drive YouTube's stunning growth in many parts of Brazil, particularly on mobile. But YouTube has had less success in poorer regions of Brazil for one simple reason: Users cannot afford the cellphone data. "The internet in Brazil is really expensive," Ms. Cordova said. "I think it's the fourth or fifth country in terms of internet prices."
WhatsApp has become a workaround. The messaging app has a deal with some carriers to offer free data on the app, and poorer users found that this offered them a way around YouTube's unaffordability. They would share snippets of YouTube videos that they found on WhatsApp, where the videos can be watched and shared for free. Ms. Cordova suspected that the WhatsApp-spread misinformation had often come from videos that first went viral on YouTube, where they had been boosted by the extremism-favoring algorithms that we documented in our story earlier this week... It was like an infection jumping from one host to the next.
Some of the videos blame the mosquito-bourne Zika virus on vaccines or suggest an international conspiracy, while some were "staged to resemble news reports or advice from health workers," the Times reports -- adding that as of Thursday the videos were still being recommended by YouTube's algorithm. (A spokesperson for YouTube "called the results unintended, and said the company would change how its search tool surfaced videos related to Zika.")
Researchers say conspiracy videos were even shown to people who'd searched for reputable information on the virus, the Times reports. "The videos often spread in WhatsApp chat groups that had been set up to share information and news about coping with Zika, turning users' efforts to take control of their families' health against them."
YouTube told the Times that their recommendation system now drives 70% of total time spent on YouTube -- and according to their article Thursday, Dr. Brito estimates that she now receives serious threats on her life about once a week.
"Everything began to click into place when we met Luciana Brito, a soft-spoken clinical psychologist who works with families affected by the Zika virus." Her work had put her on the front lines of the struggle against conspiracy theories, threats and hatred swirling on both platforms. And it allowed her to see what we -- like so many observers -- had missed: that WhatsApp and YouTube had come to form a powerful, and at times dangerous, feedback loop of extremism and misinformation. Either platform had plenty of weaknesses on its own. But, together, they had formed a pipeline of misinformation, spreading conspiracy theories, campaign material and political propaganda throughout Brazil.
The first breakthrough came when we spoke to Yasodara Cordova, who at the time was a researcher at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Illiteracy remains widespread in some parts of Brazil, she said, ruling out text-based social media or news sources for many people. And TV networks can be low-quality, which has helped drive YouTube's stunning growth in many parts of Brazil, particularly on mobile. But YouTube has had less success in poorer regions of Brazil for one simple reason: Users cannot afford the cellphone data. "The internet in Brazil is really expensive," Ms. Cordova said. "I think it's the fourth or fifth country in terms of internet prices."
WhatsApp has become a workaround. The messaging app has a deal with some carriers to offer free data on the app, and poorer users found that this offered them a way around YouTube's unaffordability. They would share snippets of YouTube videos that they found on WhatsApp, where the videos can be watched and shared for free. Ms. Cordova suspected that the WhatsApp-spread misinformation had often come from videos that first went viral on YouTube, where they had been boosted by the extremism-favoring algorithms that we documented in our story earlier this week... It was like an infection jumping from one host to the next.
Some of the videos blame the mosquito-bourne Zika virus on vaccines or suggest an international conspiracy, while some were "staged to resemble news reports or advice from health workers," the Times reports -- adding that as of Thursday the videos were still being recommended by YouTube's algorithm. (A spokesperson for YouTube "called the results unintended, and said the company would change how its search tool surfaced videos related to Zika.")
Researchers say conspiracy videos were even shown to people who'd searched for reputable information on the virus, the Times reports. "The videos often spread in WhatsApp chat groups that had been set up to share information and news about coping with Zika, turning users' efforts to take control of their families' health against them."
YouTube told the Times that their recommendation system now drives 70% of total time spent on YouTube -- and according to their article Thursday, Dr. Brito estimates that she now receives serious threats on her life about once a week.
Blame (Score:5, Insightful)
The algorithms gravitate towards a feedback loop of confirmation bias. And we have not figured out what to do about it.
Identifying the problem is important but complaining alone doesn't get us to a solution.
Re: (Score:2)
You act like the field of Machine Learning hasn't existed for _decades_ and never even thought of how to combat that problem.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't doubt that they're thinking about the problem but progress has been unremarkable.
YouTube is heading for Trouble (Score:3)
Explanation here [youtube.com]
Summary: YouTube's algorithms have been demonetizing videos retroactively and without notification.
The particular user, Viva Frei [youtube.com] is a lawyer in Canada who provides interesting and even handed legal explanations and evaluations of contemporary legal issues. He recently found that YouTube has been retroactively demonetizing his videos. After he asks for a manual review, they are re-monetized.
But he has evidence that they continue showing ads...without paying him. The top video explains how Y
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
Lots of people enjoy the video, share the video.
Smart people don't like the tone, topic, what "poor" people are sharing.
It has to be "misinformation", an "international conspiracy".
Time for curation, finding what is sinful? Until the "illiteracy" of the users can be educated back to been good consumers?
Poorer user are enjoying the internet in the wrong way
The "internet" is for people to get educated on and only see what is approved by educated people, govs, mil, bran
Re: Blame (Score:2)
Judging by the meandering path which your comment took, I think we can all guess the kinds of videos you've been sharing.
How's your perpetual motion machine investment portfolio looking these days, anyway? I think you better double down on your buy-in; wouldn't want those US based scienticians telling you how to manage your finances.
Re: Blame (Score:2)
Nuts.
Re: Blame (Score:2)
Were you attempting to argue against his (detailed, thoughtful) argument? I'm afraid your counterargument was not super persuasive.
Re: Blame (Score:2)
Nice username! Well chosen.
Re: (Score:1)
Do US media experts have more advice for the wider population of Brazil?
A list of sinful internet content that will need US curation?
A US tech imposed CoC until the illiteracy is educated out of Brazil?
Re: Blame (Score:2)
Who said it was a US problem? Reporting on an issue is not the same as taking ownership of the issue.
Your whole argument is a straw man - maybe you'd care to comment on the actual issue of conspiracy theories causing physical harm to people?
Re: (Score:1)
They can find their own way to freedom of speech.
Re: Blame (Score:4, Interesting)
We're talking about a situation with illiterate dirt farmers passing around videos claiming the illuminati/lizard men/soros/whatever are using vaccines to kill people in an environment where Zika is running rampant. These conspiracy theories , particularly the health ones, have death tolls associated with them.
Re:Blame (Score:5, Insightful)
And we have not figured out what to do about it.
Punish the content creators and blame the viewers. YouTube's response for the last three years.
Re: (Score:2)
The algorithms gravitate towards a feedback loop of confirmation bias.
That's part of it. The algorithms are also exploiting non-conspiracy theorists' desire to watch crazy people say or do crazy things. It's tapping into the same desires that make normal people gawk/rubber-neck at an accident, or watch reality TV shows of horrible people. The crazier the video the more clicks and longer views, so they sort to the top of the recommendations. The longer YouTube keeps people staring at that screen, for any reason, the more money YouTube makes.
Why this is *important* (Score:4, Insightful)
All you need to know is in the first few paragraphs:
And that can't be forgiven.
Re: (Score:2)
People in Brazil saw a political community they liked that was not approved by global tech experts.
US big tech and global experts will help with that "misinformation" when using the freedom of the press in Brazil next election
Re: (Score:2)
Who benefits from this ? Follow the money (Score:2)
This particular instance of misinformation dissemination doesn't seem politically motivated. Obviously, the goal of the people behind this is economical; to generate revenue from youtube views. The effect on whatsap looks like an unforseen side-effect specific to brasil, that the perpetrators didn't anticipate, nor care about, obviously.
But if you really find those behind these and other conspiracy theories, follow the money. Conspirationism is a business, and a very lucrative one at that.
Re: Who benefits from this ? Follow the money (Score:2)
Right, the algorithms are just that, not politically motivated but apparently rewarding obsessive viewing behaviours, the sort of thing prevalent in conspiracy theories. And yeah your dead right conspiracy theories are an industry. People have noticed there's money to be made off this shit consequences be damned.
Unfortunately Brazil isn't the only country that's elected in a whack job authoritarian off the back of critically impaired simpletons sharing angry conspiracy laden social media.
Re: (Score:2)
What actually happened in Brazil was just a simple question of only the idiot campaigning for the right thing, that is the reduction of crime.
Brazil is a land where 60.000 people get murdered per year, more than the entire first world combined.
And what the opposition to the idiot did? "we gonna wreck the legal system even more to free the ex-president, also we're doing socialism just like venezuela".
This is a simple lesson to be learned, the lesson of "political campaign for an election is the place where y
Re: (Score:1)
Its the media they want to find, enjoy and are actually watching in large numbers.
Should one person outside Brazil set what is too sinful to search for?
Can 100 "educated" people outside Brazil set what millions of people in Brazil can search for?
Should a US medical charity place its approved content near the top of every Portuguese medial search result?
Do people in "advanced" Portugal get to see the real results? Do they ge
Conspiracy Theories (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Conspiracy Theories (Score:2, Insightful)
No, that was our intelligence experts reporting on traceable hacking attempts and funding of divisive ads by groups in Russia. Or did you forget the sarcasm tag?
Re: Conspiracy Theories (Score:2)
Were these the same intelligence experts who told us there were WMD in Iraq, or are they just the ones who were trained by those guys?
Re: Conspiracy Theories (Score:4, Informative)
c6gunner demanded:
Were these the same intelligence experts who told us there were WMD in Iraq, or are they just the ones who were trained by those guys?
No. Those were the intelligence "experts" that Dick Cheney tasked one Douglas Feith - a fellow member of the Project for a New American Century [wikipedia.org] (a neocon "think tank" that espoused the idea that the USA should formally declare itself the world's policeman and intiate a national policy of imposing regime change by force on "rogue states", out of which many other senior Cheney Administration intelligence and military appointees also oozed) - with putting together a deliberately-cherry-picked intelligence report [motherjones.com] to support Cheney's own, personal conviction that Saddam Hussein was still hard at work trying to develop nuclear weapons. That is the report upon which the administration's case for military invasion of Iraq was based, and not one prepared by the intelligence community's own analysts.
Which is by no means to exculpate the professionals, because, while the "intelligence report" upon which Congress relied in debating whether to authorize the invasion was a tissue of half-truths, deliberate mischaracterizations, and outright bullshit, all resting on the utterly worthless "inside information" supplied by an Iraqi national the actual intelligence community rightly regarded as such a liar and a con man that it had already given him the code name "Curveball" before Feith dug him up and made him the star of his report, the most senior intelligence officials, afraid of Cheney's retribution, confined their protests about the worthless Feith concoction to memos to Cheney and his Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld (another PNAC alumnus), rather than going around them and taking their case to the press or to Congress itself.
Washington is full of nutless, time-serving wonders, whose only focus is to make it to retirement age and bail out with a full pension. True Believers have been successfully steamrolling them since our seat of government moved there, because patriotism has always taken the back seat to craven self-interest and bureaucratic empire-building in Swampville ...
Re: Conspiracy Theories (Score:3)
I spoke to a guy in Australia (who's now a senator) that was in military intelligence around the start of the Iraq war. It was clear to a lot of people inside intelligence that the whole narrative of Saddam being in bed with Osama Bin Laden (actually bin laden was trying to topple Saddam , jihadis and Baathists are not friends), and there was no evidence at all of WMDs. Unfortunately the govts of The US, Britain and Australia had already decided what they wanted to do and that included gagging the intellige
Re: Conspiracy Theories (Score:3)
100k worth of Facebook ads and the hacking of DNC emails which only confirmed what everyone else thought have surely ruined the 2016 election.
Re: (Score:2)
Intelligence experts : "Some 100k of private ads on Facebook, a few bot farms that we have no clue are operated by who spreading a few memes, a really shoddy dossier we think has no credibility as far as we can see, even though we obtained FISA warrants using it".
Media : "RUSSIA INSTALLED A PUPPET GOVERNMENT! TRUMP IS A PUTIN STOOGE! IMPEACH FORTY FIVE!"
Maybe you missed how this actually works, from all the other times the media has attempted to generate profit without a care in the world for facts and t
Re: (Score:2)
No, you forgot "I'm retarded and don't apply any critical thinking" disclamer. The "intelligence experts" finally brought up evidence, which ended up badly made facebook ads that wouldn't have fooled anyone older than five and didn't form even a percentage point of spending on election related PR.
Basically another fig leaf for "let's talk about anything, anything at all except for the actual reasons why Trump won".
Re: (Score:2)
Seek the truth. (Score:2)
Is it the algorithm's fault or is that just what they want you to believe?!
Re: Seek the truth. (Score:2)
recommendation system (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
youtube's recommendatio engine is truly terrible. It often recommends videos which have nothing to do with the one that is playing, or does not keep memory of videos you have just watched. So you can get into a loop of videos,sometimes a loop of 2 videos.
Seriously, I don't understa d how a company that is so good at data mining can produce such a subpar recommendation system!
Re: (Score:2)
So you can get into a loop of videos,sometimes a loop of 2 videos.
Yeah, I've noticed that, it's really strange.
I don't understand how a company that is so good at data mining can produce such a subpar recommendation system!
Maybe they aren't good at data mining anymore?
Re: recommendation system (Score:2)
"Maybe they aren't good at data mining anymore?"
Rumor has it all the smart people cashed out and left Google when their options vested. Now all Big Brother Google has left on staff are Social Just-Us Nazis who graduated from the Ivy League but were too damned stupid to get a real job on Wall St; and a small army of H1Bs doing the bare minimum to keep their jobs.
Re: (Score:2)
It isn't a hard problem. They are presumably trying different possibilities and keeping track of how much of videos are watched, whether they were watched to the end.
Then I had a cynical thought... ads are at the beginning.... maybe recommending relevant videos interferes with the ad delivery...
Maybe they want you to watch the next ad, start the next video, realize it isn't what you want, then when you find something else, you watch an ad...
Want to keep the ad-time ratio up.
Re: (Score:2)
YouTube's recommendation system is awful. Any recommendation system based on popularity will be awful, because of the strong feedback loop. "The video is popular because it's recommended, the video is recommended because it's popular." If Google finds a way to fix that problem, they will be heroes.
Yep, runaway feedback loop but it's worse than even that. It also is designed to show you more of "what you like" so it's a runaway feedback loop coupled with an echo chamber. I'm not sure I could even come up with a worse way of picking what information to show someone. And that's how all the social media sites are doing it. Some researchers should run some simulations and show how badly this is going to end. Everyone in extremist silos.
Re: recommendation system (Score:2)
"I'm not sure I could even come up with a worse way of picking what information to show someone."
Agreed - showing people videos they might enjoy is a terrible idea. Instead they should let ME decide what videos to show!
Re: (Score:2)
Congratulations, I think you just explained the popularity of the Kardashians.
Re: (Score:1)
Should US experts outside Brazil change that math and select "better" Portuguese content for average people in Brazil?
On political topics? Medical topics? History? Art? For every election in Brazil?
A US CoC on local content so another person that has not got US approval does not trend on social media?
Re: (Score:2)
The "the strong feedback loop" is what actual real people are enjoying and watching in the millions.
It doesn't, though. You haven't thought it through very deeply.
This is what engagement looks like (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
People like the video.
Lots more real people watch and share?
Someone educated in the USA has an issue with the video contents?
Brazil is not educated enough so their "internet" is curated until the US "experts" approve of what millions of people in Brazil do online?
How many topics will experts outside Brazil want to "approve"?
Do some political people in Brazil get to do that for an election video too?
Do US tech brands get to do that with election video clips in Brazil?
So big tech a
Re: (Score:2)
That the solution may be difficult doesn't mean there isn't a problem.
As a side note, its amazing how many people scream about corporate money distorting things when pushing conspiracy videos...themselves pushed often by snake oil salesmen looking for money. The original autism/mercury vaccine guy was working for lawyers looking for something to sue over. Long since disproven, it has survived as a meme, and even demonstrated meme evolution by abandoning mercury as a cause while still maintaining dangerous
Re: (Score:3)
Re: Human beings were not prepared (Score:5, Insightful)
"require a license to use the Internet, perhaps renewed biennially."
Sounds good to me. So long as I'm the one that decides who qualifies for an internet license. =)
Oh, and you might not like my decisions...
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds good to me. So long as I'm the one that decides who qualifies for an internet license. =)
Oh, and you might not like my decisions...
Nowhere did I suggest an opaque arbiter of standards. Transparency is key. When you take anything from a driver's license to real estate license you know up front what the requirements are.
Re: Human beings were not prepared (Score:2)
Oh, like a driver's license! So it will prove nothing about your ability, and do nothing for safety. But it will provide a convenient administrative means for oppressing people. Awwwwwwwesome!
Re: (Score:1)
Everyone had the part of the internet that they enjoyed and that allowed them to find more of the same content.
The social media brands need for curation, removing sinful content and a CoC was the change to a once great and free internet.
Re: (Score:2)
The internet worked just fine what it was the usenet, forums, chat apps, software.
Ah the good old days of Usenet and IRC. When there were no trolls. No malignant behavior online. No cyber-bullying. No online-offline harassment. No violent manifestos. Truly a golden age.
Re: (Score:1)
To chat, read, search, comment, link, upload, download.
Like the people of Brazil expected to do until big US tech detected the "content" and pushed for censorship and a US directed CoC.
Now computer users in Brazil have to accept outside control over what millions of people wanted to do on their internet after work/education in their own time...
What big US tech finds sinful gets removed, hidden? What outside experts say people cant view, not search f
Re: (Score:2)
People globally enjoyed the freedom of the internet.
Is this true or an illusion? With the perspective of time will we think differently of these halcyon days?
To chat, read, search, comment, link, upload, download.
Most of the content and services were created by a small fraction of the users back in those days. It was a bit of a pain to setup and maintain a homepage or operate a forum. With social media we have many people expressing themselves and sharing their interest with one another. Like and Share is a psychological contaminate that sweep through the human race in a blink of the eye. There is likely no way
Re: (Score:1)
Can a joke be wrong? As in not funny enough? Too political for one side of politics? Will experts find art to be wrong? A funny political meme be wrong? A in copy protected image was used or the political party was made to look funny? Political wrong? A video clip millions of people share can be "wrong"?
Do
article summarized (Score:2)
Article summarized:
New populist Brazilian political party uses YouTube for media outreach. Party subsequently win election to office nationwide, including the presidency. Establishment stooges are shocked & horrified. Stooges urgently call upon Big Brother Google to censor unapproved narratives & prevent Brazilian voters from discovering politicians who work oppose global financialist hegemony.
Counter-Conspiracy (Score:2)
Just launch theories claiming that vaccinating with Varicella vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine, Hepatitis A vaccine, Meningococcal vaccine, Human papillomavirus vaccine will make you immune to West-Nile, Zika and other crap.
I see the difference with soylent now (Score:2)