research-article

The homogeneity of right-wing populist and radical content in YouTube recommendations

Authors:

Daniel Röchert,

Muriel Weitzel,

Björn RossAuthors Info & Claims

SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society

Pages 245 - 254

https://doi.org/10.1145/3400806.3400835

Published: 22 July 2020 Publication History

Abstract

The use of social media to disseminate extreme political content on the web, especially right-wing populist propaganda, is no longer a rarity in today's life. Recommendation systems of social platforms, which provide personalized filtering of content, can contribute to users forming homogeneous cocoons around themselves. This study investigates YouTube's recommendations system based on 1,663 German political videos in order to analyze the homogeneity of the related content. After examining two datasets (right-wing populist and politically neutral videos), each consisting of ten initial videos and their first and second level recommendations, we show that there is a high degree of homogeneity of right-wing populist and neutral political content in the recommendation network. These findings offer preliminary evidence on the role of YouTube recommendations in fueling the creation of ideologically like-minded information spaces.

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Published In

cover image ACM Other conferences

SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society

July 2020

317 pages

ISBN:9781450376884

DOI:10.1145/3400806

Editors:
Anatoliy Gruzd
Ryerson University in Canada
,
Philip Mai
Ryerson University in Canada
,
Raquel Recuero
Federal University of Pelotas and Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil
,
Ángel Hernández-García
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain
,
Chei Sian Lee
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore
,
James Cook
University of Maine at Augusta in the United States
,
Jaigris Hodson
Royal Roads University in Canada
,
Bree McEwan
DePaul University in the United States
,
Jill Hopke
DePaul University in the United States

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

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Publication History

Published: 22 July 2020

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Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen

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SMSociety'20

SMSociety'20: International Conference on Social Media and Society

July 22 - 24, 2020

ON, Toronto, Canada

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Overall Acceptance Rate 78 of 189 submissions, 41%

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.eswa.2023.121803
Gruzd AAbul-Fottouh DSong MSaiphoo A(2023)From Facebook to YouTube: The Potential Exposure to COVID-19 Anti-Vaccine Videos on Social MediaSocial Media + Society10.1177/205630512211504039:1Online publication date: 1-Feb-2023
https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221150403
Gong YSchroeder APan BSundar SMowen A(2023)Does algorithmic filtering lead to filter bubbles in online tourist information searches?Information Technology & Tourism10.1007/s40558-023-00279-426:1(183-217)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-023-00279-4
Shahi G(2023)Political Polarization in Times of Crisis: Ideological Bias and Emotions of News Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic on YouTubeDigital Transformation10.1007/978-3-031-43590-4_4(56-73)Online publication date: 21-Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43590-4_4
Gamir-Ríos JIbáñez-Cuquerella M(2022)‘Fascist Heroes’ vs. progressive policies and political correctness: Agenda and framing of the Spanish Alt-lite micro-celebrities on YouTubeCatalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies10.1386/cjcs_00068_114:2(189-206)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2022
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Choi DLee UHong H(2022)“It’s not wrong, but I’m quite disappointed”: Toward an Inclusive Algorithmic Experience for Content Creators with DisabilitiesProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517574(1-19)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
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