Counter-messages as Prevention or Promotion of Extremism?! The Potential Role of YouTube

Schmitt, Josephine B.; Rieger, Diana; Rutkowski, Olivia; Ernst, Julian

doi:10.1093/joc/jqy029

Cited by 79 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 44 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, these methods cannot reliably distinguish between facts and opinions, nor can they detect irony, humour or sarcasm 56 . They also have difficulty differentiating between extremist content and counter-extremist messages 57 , because both types of messages tend to be tagged with similar keywords. A more general shortcoming of current endogenous cues of epistemic quality is that their evaluation requires background knowledge of the issue in question, which often makes them non-transparent and potentially prone to abuse for censorship purposes.…”

Section: Digital Cues and Behavioural Interventions For Human-centredmentioning

confidence: 99%

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Public opinion is shaped in significant part by online content, spread via social media and curated algorithmically. The current online ecosystem has been designed predominantly to capture user attention rather than to promote deliberate cognition and autonomous choice; information overload, finely tuned personalization and distorted social cues, in turn, pave the way for manipulation and the spread of false information. How can transparency and autonomy be promoted instead, thus fostering the positive potential of the web? Effective web governance informed by behavioural research is critically needed to empower individuals online. We identify technologically available yet largely untapped cues that can be harnessed to indicate the epistemic quality of online content, the factors underlying algorithmic decisions and the degree of consensus in online debates. We then map out two classes of behavioural interventions-nudging and boosting-that enlist these cues to redesign online environments for informed and autonomous choice.

show abstract

Section: Digital Cues and Behavioural Interventions For Human-centredmentioning

confidence: 99%

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Included among general content creators are those who specifically target users with polarizing and radicalizing political content. While YouTube and other social media platforms have generally taken a strict stance against most inflammatory material on their platform, extremist groups from jihadi terrorist organizations [18] [19], various political positions [20], and conspiracy theorists have nonetheless been able to permeate the content barrier [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Algorithmic extremism: Examining YouTube's rabbit hole of radicalization

Ledwich¹,

Zaitsev

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The role that YouTube and its behind-the-scenes recommendation algorithm plays in encouraging online radicalization has been suggested by both journalists and academics alike. This study directly quantifies these claims by examining the role that YouTubes algorithm plays in suggesting radicalized content. After categorizing nearly 800 political channels, we were able to differentiate between political schemas in order to analyze the algorithm traffic flows out and between each group. After conducting a detailed analysis of recommendations received by each channel type, we refute the popular radicalization claims. To the contrary, these data suggest that YouTubes recommendation algorithm actively discourages viewers from visiting radicalizing or extremist content. Instead, the algorithm is shown to favor mainstream media and cable news content over independent YouTube channels with slant towards left-leaning or politically neutral channels. Our study thus suggests that YouTubes recommendation algorithm fails to promote inflammatory or radicalized content, as previously claimed by several outlets.

show abstract

“…One key focus of recent critiques of YouTube has been its recommendation engine (Regner, 2014;Schmitt et al, 2018;Ribeiro et al, 2020). The design of the recommendation system is central to YouTube's user experience for two reasons.…”

Section: Platform Analysis: Youtubementioning

confidence: 99%

Angry by design: toxic communication and technical architectures

Munn¹

2020

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hate speech and toxic communication online is on the rise. Responses to this issue tend to offer technical (automated) or non-technical (human content moderation) solutions, or see hate speech as a natural product of hateful people. In contrast, this article begins by recognizing platforms as designed environments that support particular practices while discouraging others. In what ways might these design architectures be contributing to polarizing, impulsive, or antagonistic behaviors? Two platforms are examined: Facebook and YouTube. Based on engagement, Facebook's Feed drives views but also privileges incendiary content, setting up a stimulus-response loop that promotes outrage expression. YouTube's recommendation system is a key interface for content consumption, yet this same design has been criticized for leading users towards more extreme content. Across both platforms, design is central and influential, proving to be a productive lens for understanding toxic communication.

show abstract

Counter-messages as Prevention or Promotion of Extremism?! The Potential Role of YouTube

Cited by 79 publications

References 44 publications

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online

Algorithmic extremism: Examining YouTube's rabbit hole of radicalization

Angry by design: toxic communication and technical architectures

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About