Algorithmic radicalization (or radicalization pipeline) is the concept that algorithms on popular social media sites such as
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
drive users toward progressively more extreme content over time, leading to them developing
radicalized
Radicalization (or radicalisation) is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radicaliza ...
extremist political views. Algorithms record user interactions, from likes/dislikes to amount of time spent on posts, to generate endless media aimed to keep users engaged. Through
echo chamber
Echo chamber of the Dresden University of Technology
Hamilton Mausoleum has a long-lasting unplanned echo
An echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce reverberation, usually for recording purposes. For example, the producers of a ...
channels, the consumer is driven to be more polarized through preferences in media and self-confirmation.
Algorithmic radicalization remains a controversial phenomenon as it is often not in the best interest of social media companies to remove echo chamber channels. Though social media companies have admitted to algorithmic radicalization's existence, it remains unclear how each will manage this growing threat.
Facebook's Allegations
In an August 2019 internal memo leaked in 2021, Facebook has admitted that "the mechanics of our platforms are not neutral",
concluding that in order to reach maximum profits, optimization for engagement is necessary. In order to increase engagement, algorithms have found that hate, misinformation, and politics are instrumental for app activity. As referenced in the memo, "The more incendiary the material, the more it keeps users engaged, the more it is boosted by the algorithm."
According to a 2018 study, "false rumors spread faster and wider than true information... They found falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth, and reach their first 1,500 people six times faster. This effect is more pronounced with political news than other categories."
TikTok Algorithms
TikTok is an app that recommends videos to your 'For You Page' (FYP), making every users' page different. With the nature of the algorithm behind the app, TikTok's FYP has been linked to showing more explicit and radical videos over time based on your previous interactions on the app. Since TikTok's inception, the app has been scrutinized for misinformation and hate speech as those forms of media usually generate more interactions to the algorithm.
As of 2022, TikTok's head of US Security has put out a statement that "81,518,334 videos were removed globally between April - June for violating our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service" to cut back on hate speech, harassment, and misinformation.
Self-radicalization
The U.S. department of Justice defines 'Lone-wolf' (self) terrorism as "someone who acts alone in a terrorist attack without the help or encouragement of a government or a terrorist organization". Through social media outlets on the internet, 'Lone-wolf' terrorism has been on the rise, being linked to algorithmic radicalization. Through echo-chambers on the internet, viewpoints typically seen as radical were accepted and quickly adopted by other extremists. These viewpoints are encouraged by forums, group chats, and social media to reinforce their beliefs.
References in Media
The Social Dilemma
"
The Social Dilemma
''The Social Dilemma'' is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis. The documentary examines how social media's design nurtures addiction to maximize profit, and its abil ...
" was a 2020 docudrama about how algorithms behind social media enables addiction, while possessing abilities to manipulate people's views, emotions, and behavior to spread conspiracy theories and disinformation. The film repeatedly uses buzz words such as 'echo chambers' and 'fake news' to prove psychological manipulation on social media, therefore leading to political manipulation. In the film, we follow Ben as he falls deeper into a social media addiction as the algorithm found that his social media page has a 62.3% chance of long-term engagement. This leads into more videos on the recommended feed for Ben and he eventually becomes more immersed into propaganda and conspiracy theories, becoming more polarized with each video.
Possible Solutions
Section 230
In the Communications Decency Act of 1996, section 230 states that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider".
Section 230 protects the media from liabilities or being sued of third-party content, such as illegal activity from a user.
However, this approach reduces a company's incentive to remove harmful content or misinformation. This loophole has allowed social media companies to maximize profits through pushing radical content without legal risks.
See also
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Algorithmic curation
Algorithmic curation is the curation (organizing and maintaining a collection) of online media using computer algorithms. Examples include search engine algorithms and social media algorithms. Examples include the Twitter feed algorithm, Facebook ...
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Ambient awareness
Ambient awareness (AmA) is a term used by social scientists to describe a new form of peripheral social awareness. This awareness is propagated from relatively constant contact with one's friends and colleagues via social networking platforms on th ...
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Collective influence algorithm
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...
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Disinformation attack
Disinformation attacks are the intentional dissemination of false information, with an end goal of misleading, confusing, or manipulating an audience. Disinformation attacks may be executed by state or non-state actors to influence domestic or fo ...
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Doomscrolling
Doomscrolling or doomsurfing is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of negative news online. A 2019 NAS study found that doomscrolling can be linked to a decline in mental and physical health.
History Origins ...
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Echo chamber
Echo chamber of the Dresden University of Technology
Hamilton Mausoleum has a long-lasting unplanned echo
An echo chamber is a hollow enclosure used to produce reverberation, usually for recording purposes. For example, the producers of a ...
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Extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...
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False consensus effect
In psychology, the false consensus effect, also known as consensus bias, is a pervasive cognitive bias that causes people to “see their own behavioral choices and judgments as relatively common and appropriate to existing circumstances”. In ot ...
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Filter bubble
A filter bubble or ideological frame is a state of intellectual isolationTechnopediaDefinition – What does Filter Bubble mean?, Retrieved October 10, 2017, "....A filter bubble is the intellectual isolation, that can occur when websites make us ...
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Influence-for-hire Influence-for-hire or collective influence, refers to the economy that has emerged around buying and selling Social influence, influence on social media platforms.
Overview
Companies that engage in the influence-for-hire industry range from conte ...
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Selective exposure theory
Selective exposure is a theory within the practice of psychology, often used in media and communication research, that historically refers to individuals' tendency to favor information which reinforces their pre-existing views while avoiding contra ...
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Social bot
A social bot, or also described as a social AI or social algorithm, is a software agent that communicates autonomously on social media. The messages (e.g. tweets) it distributes can be simple and operate in groups and various configurations with ...
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Social influence bias
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Social media bias
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Virtual collective consciousness
Virtual collective consciousness (VCC) is a term rebooted and promoted by two behavioral scientists, Yousri Marzouki and Olivier Oullier in their 2012 Huffington Post article titled: “Revolutionizing Revolutions: Virtual Collective Consciousness ...
References
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Extremism
Radicalization
Social media
Political terminology
Social concepts
Internet manipulation and propaganda
Social influence
Government by algorithm
Sociology of technology