YouTube implements recommendation changes

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YouTube announces it will reduce recommendations of borderline content and harmful misinformation, initially in the United States.

On 25 January 2019 YouTube announced it would reduce recommendations of borderline content and harmful misinformation, saying the change would touch under one percent of videos and apply first in the United States. Affected videos stayed available through search and subscriptions.

An independent audit by Faddoul, Chaslot and Farid found recommended conspiratorial videos dropped sharply after the announcement and then partly rebounded, with the reduction uneven across topics. YouTube’s own December 2019 post reported a decline in watch time on such content; the two accounts have not been reconciled.

Sources

  1. 01.

    YouTube Official Blog. Continuing our work to improve recommendations on YouTube. (2019). The 25 January 2019 announcement. States the change would affect less than one percent of videos, apply first to US recommendations, and leave affected videos reachable via search and subscriptions.

    blog.youtube/news-and-events/continuing-our-work-to-improve
  2. 02.

    YouTube Official Blog. The Four Rs of Responsibility, Part 2: Raising authoritative content and reducing borderline content and harmful misinformation. (2019). December 2019 follow-up; YouTube's own reported figure for the change in watch time on borderline content.

    blog.youtube/inside-youtube/the-four-rs-of-responsibility-raise-and-reduce
  3. 03.

    Faddoul, M., Chaslot, G., & Farid, H. (2020). A Longitudinal Analysis of YouTube's Promotion of Conspiracy Videos. Independent year-long audit; reports a sharp decline in recommended conspiratorial videos after January 2019 followed by a partial rebound, and notes the reduction was uneven across topics.

    arxiv.org/abs/2003.03318

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January 2019
YouTube implements recommendation changes
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