YouTube and Facebook Trending Tools Highlighted Parkland Conspiracy Theories | WIRED
kiratebbe's bookmarks 2018-03-14
Summary:
For a brief period on Wednesday, YouTube awarded the top spot in its Trending section to a conspiracy video claiming that 17-year-old David Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 students, was in fact an actor. The prime placement of the video, which has since been removed, shocked YouTube users and members of the media alike. It shouldn't have. YouTube's screwup is only the latest to highlight the fundamental flaws of the algorithms that decide what gets surfaced across all social platforms.