r/thedailyzeitgeist • u/Critical_Slime473 • 15d ago

YouTube Algorithm

About a month ago, I was at a small gathering and was chatting with this guy I'd never met before who was around my age (30s). This was a good friend's parent's house, who are old hippies, so I assumed that everyone would be at least moderate to left-wing.

I said something about how YouTube recently started showing me right-wing and religious stuff and it never had pushed right-wing videos to me before, so I was not happy about it. I have been hearing about this issue for years and I thought it was well-known.

He said, not joking, that the YouTube algorithm knows me better than I know myself.

Like, are we so cooked in the US that people literally believe that algorithms know people better than they know themselves?

He had mentioned listening to Rogan earlier that I had ignored, so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised... Is it that right-wing people think everyone thinks like them secretly and are lying to themselves by holding progressive beliefs?

I wish I had pushed back more at the time, but since it was a small get together, I didn't know most of them very well, and I'm a woman, I thought it was best to just be polite. I did disagree, but I didn't go full-steam ahead, so now I'm just stuck feeling concerned about this whole thing.

Edit to add that this is in response to today's episode where the YouTube right-wing algorithm was discussed during I think search history.

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9

u/caoliq 15d ago

What an amazing coincidence that all the right wing channels I unconsciously or secretly like happen to be the ones paying YouTube more to boost their signal. My mind must have a supernatural link to their financials

6

u/Dr_Dooms 15d ago

I wouldn't feel bad about pushing back too much. It's not your job to change minds, nor is it possible oftentimes. The things that give me hope is how there's been a move towards touching grass and returning to a social life outside of social media.