YouTube’s decision to reduce the recommendations of harmful content was highly acclaimed by the users. In fact, most users tweeted it a ‘historic victory’ and claimed that the move would bring a lot of positivity on the platform.
Among the types of videos, YouTube said it would eliminate included the ‘flat-Earth’ content. These videos are created on the ‘idea’ that the Earth is not round – despite being proven repeatedly by science that it is.
However, researchers claim that the ‘wrongful’ idea has already taken place in many people’s head and YouTube is much to blame than anyone else.
Speaking at the annual gathering of flat-Earthers, the research team from the Texas Tech University said that the demographic who believe that the Earth is actually flat are usually those who spend maximum time on YouTube watching similar conspiracy videos.
The feedback loop, present on YouTube shows additional conspiracy video when one views a similar item. This leads the creators to create more conspiring content leading to ‘false beliefs.’
Normalizing such ideas is not only harmful to society but also dangerous for a person’s well-being. With so many years in its name, YouTube has not done much to curb such unfaithful ideas. Will the new implementation bring a change to the mindset of the users or is it impossible to back change.
Photo: Digitalinformationworld Composite / Getty Images
Read Next: Scammers Are Using YouTube's Copyright Strikes For Extortion Schemes
Among the types of videos, YouTube said it would eliminate included the ‘flat-Earth’ content. These videos are created on the ‘idea’ that the Earth is not round – despite being proven repeatedly by science that it is.
However, researchers claim that the ‘wrongful’ idea has already taken place in many people’s head and YouTube is much to blame than anyone else.
Speaking at the annual gathering of flat-Earthers, the research team from the Texas Tech University said that the demographic who believe that the Earth is actually flat are usually those who spend maximum time on YouTube watching similar conspiracy videos.
The feedback loop, present on YouTube shows additional conspiracy video when one views a similar item. This leads the creators to create more conspiring content leading to ‘false beliefs.’
Related: Self-policing at an all-time high! Cleaning YouTube videos getting dirtier!The researcher said that one of the most popular videos that depict the earth being flat is nearly two-hour long. The team notes that if the viewers believe the earth being flat from these videos, making them go for topics like ‘science isn’t real’, ‘vaccines are harmful’, and ‘jet fuel can’t melt steel beams’ is not as challenging as it may sound.
Normalizing such ideas is not only harmful to society but also dangerous for a person’s well-being. With so many years in its name, YouTube has not done much to curb such unfaithful ideas. Will the new implementation bring a change to the mindset of the users or is it impossible to back change.
Photo: Digitalinformationworld Composite / Getty Images
Read Next: Scammers Are Using YouTube's Copyright Strikes For Extortion Schemes
