Facebook Knew Its Algorithm Fed QAnon Content to Users Within a Week [View all]
Facebook knew its recommendation algorithm was a problem, so it set up a study to test out just how bad the problem was.
In the study, entitled “Carol’s Journey to QAnon—A Test User Study of Misinfo & Polarization Risks Encountered through Recommendation Systems,” Facebook set up some brand-new accounts.
Each of these accounts followed a small number of high-quality or verified conservative-interest pages, such as Fox News, former President Donald Trump, and former first lady Melania Trump. The study found that “within just one day, Page recommendations had already devolved toward polarizing content.”
Within two days, recommendations began to include conspiracy content. “It took less than 1 week to get a QAnon recommendation,” the report found.
The shocking revelations about how Facebook mishandled the rise of QAnon—as well as other militarized social movements—are revealed in one of eight whistleblower complaints filed by former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week and published by CBS on Monday evening.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx5v4y/facebooks-algorithm-spread-qanon-content-to-new-users
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