YouTube’s algorithm recommends users right-wing and religious content, research finds
YouTube has a pattern of recommending right-leaning and Christian videos, even to those who haven’t interacted with that kind of content, according to a study.
YouTube has a pattern of recommending right-leaning and Christian videos, even to users who haven’t previously interacted with that kind of content, according to a recent study of the platform’s suggestions to users.
The four-part research project, conducted by a London-based nonprofit organization that researches extremism called the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, explored video recommendations served to accounts designed to mimic users interested in four topic areas: gaming, male lifestyle gurus, mommy vloggers and Spanish-language news.
“We wanted to, for the most part, look at topics that don’t generally direct people into extremist worlds or anything along those lines,” said Aoife Gallagher, the project’s lead analyst.
Researchers created accounts and built mock user personas by searching for content, subscribing to channels and watching videos using those accounts. After having built personas for five days, researchers recorded the video recommendations displayed on each account’s homepage for a month.
The study noted that YouTube’s recommendation algorithm “drives 70% of all video views.”
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