ISD study reveals how YouTube’s algorithm pushes problematic content despite user interest 

Yahoo News covers ISD’s investigation into YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, a study found that users were being exposed to misinformation and problematic or explicit content despite regardless of interests or age. The study was led by analysts that set up YouTube profiles tailored to specific ages and genders to monitor what content was being recommended when showing initial interests toward one of four categories: gaming, male lifestyle gurus, mommy vloggers or Spanish-language news.  

Speaking to Yahoo News, ISD Senior Analyst and report co-author Aoife Gallagher highlighted how the aim was to not start “from the point of extreme ideas, but start from kind of more mainstream ideas and mainstream subject matters to see what the algorithm would then produce.” Aoife explained how the interest categories were selected, noting that gaming and male lifestyle content, and more recently since the pandemic, female wellness influencers, have been an avenue to conspiracy ideologies and narratives. Additionally, most research on online conspiracies have been centred around English-speaking content and influencers, leaving the Spanish-speaking internet world as an under-researched area. 

The results showed that regardless of the profile’s age or interests, misinformation and problematic content would eventually surface through YouTube’s algorithm. Aoife highlighted the “shocking” findings regarding the violent and sexually explicit content that was recommended to profiles set up for a 14-year old boy and girl in the context of video games. 

Regarding how to tackle this issue, Aoife highlights the need for “more data transparency, more transparency from the platforms — give researchers and journalists and academics, give them access to the data around the algorithm so we can actually understand how they work.” 

The ISD investigation was also featured by NBC and The Hill.