A new trial carried out by The Guardian Australia has shed light on the growing number of studies that speak about the impact of social media algorithms without oversight.
For years, many spoke about how Meta’s algorithms, particularly those linked to its Facebook and Instagram apps impacted what was visible on newsfeeds. To figure that out, The Guardian unleashed users with new blank smartphones that were linked to brand new email IDs.
A few months later, we saw them being bombarded with content that was not only sexist but very problematic and filled with misogyny.
Ad tracking was switched off and the profiles of John Doe were generated comprising of men in the 24-year-old age bracket. While Facebook didn’t have a lot to rely on in terms of no likes and comments or even contacts as friends, Instagram showed a whole new picture.
It forced users to follow five accounts in the beginning so the popular recommended accounts were selected. What’s interesting is how Facebook’s parent firm mentioned that its algorithms rank content depending on what users are interested in but what many of us wished to know is where the app might take you when there are no inputs like that.
Scrolling through each and every feed so carefully, we wished to see what was being served.
Facebook was rolling up jokes and a lot of memes from various news websites. After that, it started to show memes from the gym and those linked to the Star Wars film. And then on day three, we saw memes popping up related to sexist jokes and material on the feed.
After three months, the feed is full of very misogynistic content and sexist material without users placing much input at all. There are videos of women in revealing attire showing up in the recommendations but again, the content remains the same.
When Meta was approached to speak about the matter, there were zero comments rolled out in that direction. In the submission Meta made to the parliament, it said it was making use of a wide range of algorithms to assist with ranking content on the algorithm through its feeds.
According to the tech giant, the algorithms of these apps were assisting a lot of people in understanding what content is the most meaningful so it could be ranked accordingly.
Now what’s interesting is despite this experimental study, Meta sticks by its claims that what users are seeing on the pages is truly a reflection of their own likes, interests, and opinions. On that basis, they rank content.
Meta confirmed that it assesses content on the app for any signs including who made the post and how popular it actually was. Then, ranking algorithms are used to make predictions about how relevant the content is and how meaningful in the end.
From what the study revealed, Meta assumes that a certain kind of content that men would fall for is displayed and recommended, whether they’re interested in that or not. Such findings have been proven by other studies in the past. What do you think?
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next:
• US Court Rules Meta’s Mass Layoff Season In 2022 As Illegal With Violation Of Employee Rights In Separation Agreements
• Apple’s CSAM Woes Continue After Being Accused Of Under-Reporting Incidents
For years, many spoke about how Meta’s algorithms, particularly those linked to its Facebook and Instagram apps impacted what was visible on newsfeeds. To figure that out, The Guardian unleashed users with new blank smartphones that were linked to brand new email IDs.
A few months later, we saw them being bombarded with content that was not only sexist but very problematic and filled with misogyny.
Ad tracking was switched off and the profiles of John Doe were generated comprising of men in the 24-year-old age bracket. While Facebook didn’t have a lot to rely on in terms of no likes and comments or even contacts as friends, Instagram showed a whole new picture.
It forced users to follow five accounts in the beginning so the popular recommended accounts were selected. What’s interesting is how Facebook’s parent firm mentioned that its algorithms rank content depending on what users are interested in but what many of us wished to know is where the app might take you when there are no inputs like that.
Scrolling through each and every feed so carefully, we wished to see what was being served.
Facebook was rolling up jokes and a lot of memes from various news websites. After that, it started to show memes from the gym and those linked to the Star Wars film. And then on day three, we saw memes popping up related to sexist jokes and material on the feed.
After three months, the feed is full of very misogynistic content and sexist material without users placing much input at all. There are videos of women in revealing attire showing up in the recommendations but again, the content remains the same.
When Meta was approached to speak about the matter, there were zero comments rolled out in that direction. In the submission Meta made to the parliament, it said it was making use of a wide range of algorithms to assist with ranking content on the algorithm through its feeds.
According to the tech giant, the algorithms of these apps were assisting a lot of people in understanding what content is the most meaningful so it could be ranked accordingly.
Now what’s interesting is despite this experimental study, Meta sticks by its claims that what users are seeing on the pages is truly a reflection of their own likes, interests, and opinions. On that basis, they rank content.
Meta confirmed that it assesses content on the app for any signs including who made the post and how popular it actually was. Then, ranking algorithms are used to make predictions about how relevant the content is and how meaningful in the end.
From what the study revealed, Meta assumes that a certain kind of content that men would fall for is displayed and recommended, whether they’re interested in that or not. Such findings have been proven by other studies in the past. What do you think?
Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next:
• US Court Rules Meta’s Mass Layoff Season In 2022 As Illegal With Violation Of Employee Rights In Separation Agreements
• Apple’s CSAM Woes Continue After Being Accused Of Under-Reporting Incidents
