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The Atlantic (Vaidhyanathan)

 

No algorithm is neutral. Facebook and Google are biased, but in a way that has nothing to do with American political ideologies or parties. Instead, both of these global systems favor content that generates strong emotional reactions from users -- clicks, shares, likes, and comments. There is a clear commercial reason for this design choice. It keeps users hooked, ready to click on more advertisements and thus generate more revenue for the platform.
-- Siva Vaidhyanathan. "Why Conservatives Allege Big Tech Is Muzzling Them" The Atlantic (Jul 28, 2019).
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We have trained the algorithms to feed us more extreme content every time. The algorithms are designed to work that way. We change YouTube and Facebook, so YouTube and Facebook change us -- and not for the better.
-- Siva Vaidhyanathan. "Why Conservatives Allege Big Tech Is Muzzling Them" The Atlantic (Jul 28, 2019).
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