Report: Fake news content went viral using YouTube’s algorithm

Report: Fake news content went viral using YouTube’s algorithm

4 years ago
Anonymous $4bURcB5AtU

https://www.siliconvalley.com/2019/12/13/report-fake-news-content-went-viral-using-youtubes-algorithm/

YouTube channels posing as American news outlets racked up millions of views on false and inflammatory videos over several months this year, all with the help of YouTube’s recommendation engine.

Many of the accounts, which mostly used footage from CNN, but also employed some video from Fox News, exploited a YouTube feature that automatically creates channels on certain topics. Those topic channels are then automatically populated by videos related to the topic — including, in this case, blatant misinformation. YouTube has now shut down many of the accounts.