I typed "slave trade" into the youtube search and the eighth video in the list (out of 653,000 results) is a work of anti-Semitic propaganda which falsely claims that Jewish people dominated the transatlantic slave trade.
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The next video queued up to autoplay is narrated by David Duke, a Neo-Nazi and former Grand Wizard of the KKK. Other videos in the list feature Holocaust deniers like David Irving. One search and two clicks later and you are deep into Stormfront territory. This is unconscionable.
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Algorithms like this simply do not work and suggestions to "improve" algorithms to resolve this issue are absurd and irresponsible. For broad topics such as these, manual curation and selection is essential, especially in the first 20 results or so. There is no shortcut.
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The search to find the obscure work of extremists should require effort, instead YouTube is serving up far-right propagandists as “recommended viewing” on a range of important topics. Black Mirror has nothing on this.
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The automated suggestions that appear in the YouTube search box underline how broken their algorithm is. Typing "transatlantic slave.." and half of the first eight suggestions are "myth" "lie" "hoax" "fake". Contrast that with Google, where none of those suggestions appear.pic.twitter.com/657mXyBS8m
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Type "what is race" into YouTube and the first suggested search is "What is race realism" and a link to a video made by white nationalists at American Renaissance. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/american-renaissance …pic.twitter.com/3QHCylN1TF
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Update: YouTube are abdicating all responsibility. This is shameful.https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/973701416702398464 …
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YouTube continues to act as a radicalisation engine. In an incognito session today I typed in "slavery" and the 11th result was a video by Dinesh D'Souza equating racialised perpetual hereditary chattel slavery with the welfare state.
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I typed in "slave trade" and the 4th and 7th result are videos made by far-right ideologues who attempt to minimise Britain's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade via moral relativism, &c. The BNP version of this history is thus being promoted by YouTube's algorithm.
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Around the 40-50 mark we find multiple videos feat. David Duke, David Irving and Tony Martin who are all spreading anti-semitic conspiracy theories about the level of Jewish involvement in the slave trade. Click on one of these & the recommended viewing = 100% extremist content.
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“The engine for radicalism particular to YouTube is its monetization of extreme ideas, allowing both extremists and the company to profit from such dangerous content.”https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/forget-facebook-youtube-videos-are-radicalizing-millions-young-people-company-ncna916341 …
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I only spotted this disgusting reply today. “Human rights activist”? Zündel was a notorious anti-Semite, Holocaust denier, white supremacist and neo-Nazi propagandist. He published & co-authored “The Hitler We Loved and Why” which exalted Nazi genocide and mass murder.pic.twitter.com/7eC0wbtvqP
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I’m not going to quote from it and I’d advise you not to read it. It’s that disturbing. Meanwhile YouTube is pouring this poison into the minds of millions of people, mostly young people, for profit.
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“YouTube is playing a major role in creating a new generation of racist, far-right activists.” Aside: why on earth is the far-right marketing term “alt-right” still in use?https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/15/17979118/youtube-alt-right-two-reports …
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“At the end of the year [2017], fewer than twenty people were on the staff for “trust and safety,” the unit overseeing content policies, according to a former staffer.”https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-04-02/youtube-executives-ignored-warnings-letting-toxic-videos-run-rampant …
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Such grotesque corporate malpractice explains the entire thread.
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“YouTube has paid a neo-Nazi thousands of pounds and taken a cut of the money in a new revenue-generating scheme”https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/youtube-cashes-in-on-neo-nazis-hate-videos-9gg0nbvd6 …
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Tech bros seem to be willing to throw civil society under the bus because they once read a fake Voltaire quote in high school.
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They really are beyond parody.https://twitter.com/natashabertrand/status/1183837308581306370?s=21 …
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soooo many people i studied for my book specifically cited him as a pathway for their white supremacist radicalization. small victories