{"id":660660,"date":"2019-07-20T11:46:26","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"
\n

YouTube has defended its video recommendation algorithms, amid suggestions that the technology serves up increasingly extreme videos.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a BBC report explored how\u00a0YouTube had helped the Flat E"},"modified":"2019-07-20T11:46:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-20T11:46:26","slug":"we-dont-take-you-down-the-rabbit-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/20\/we-dont-take-you-down-the-rabbit-hole\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We don’t take you down the rabbit hole’"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

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YouTube has defended its video recommendation algorithms, amid suggestions that the technology serves up increasingly extreme videos.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a BBC report explored how\u00a0YouTube had helped the Flat Earth conspiracy theory spread.<\/p>\n

But the company\u2019s new managing director for the UK, Ben McOwen Wilson, said YouTube \u201cdoes the opposite of taking you down the rabbit hole\u201d.<\/p>\n

He told the BBC that YouTube worked to dispel misinformation and conspiracies.<\/p>\n

But warned that some types of government regulation could start to look like censorship.<\/p>\n

YouTube, as well as other internet giants such as Facebook and Twitter, have some big decisions to make. All must decide where they draw the line between freedom of expression, hateful content and misinformation.<\/p>\n

And the government is watching. It has published a White Paper\u00a0laying out its plans to regulate online platforms.<\/p>\n

In his first interview since starting his new role, Mr McOwen Wilson spoke about the company\u2019s algorithms, its approach to hate speech and what it expects from the UK government\u2019s \u201conline harms\u201d legislation.<\/p>\n

Algorithms<\/strong><\/p>\n

YouTube uses algorithms to recommend more videos for you to watch. These video suggestions appear in the app, down the side of the website and also show up when you get to the end of a video.<\/p>\n

But YouTube has never explained exactly how its algorithms work. Critics say the platform offers up increasingly sensationalist and conspiratorial videos.<\/p>\n

Mr McOwen Wilson disagrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what\u2019s great about YouTube. It is what brings you from one small area and actually expands your horizon and does the opposite of taking you down the rabbit hole,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>\n

\u201cVery often it doesn\u2019t take you to content that\u2019s exactly like the one you\u2019ve watched before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Mr McOwen Wilson says YouTube has started adding a sort of \u201cwarning\u201d label to certain conspiracy topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s misinformation, we provide correct information around that. We work with Encyclopaedia Britannica and Wikipedia to provide knowledge panels that come up on the side of the screen. So if you\u2019re watching a flat Earth video\u2026 we will present to you a link to the facts about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facebook used to do something similar with fake news. It would label false stories as \u201cdisputed\u201d with a red warning label, and offered up other sources of information. But the social network later said this had often entrenched people\u2019s pre-existing views and made the problem worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t found that,\u201d says Mr McOwen Wilson. He says the platform reduces the spread of content designed to mislead people, and raises up \u201cauthoritative voices\u201d.<\/p>\n

He names BBC News, the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Sun as examples of authoritative sources.<\/p>\n

Some conspiracy theories \u2013 such as Holocaust denial \u2013\u00a0have been banned on the platform completely.<\/p>\n

LGBT row<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June, a row erupted between two YouTube video-makers.<\/p>\n

Vox reporter Carlos Maza posted a video showing all the times that comedian Steven Crowder had mocked him for being gay, or used insulting language attacking his sexual orientation and ethnicity. Mr Crowder said the videos were \u201cfriendly ribbing\u201d.<\/p>\n

After a series of muddled statements on Twitter, YouTube eventually confirmed that Mr Crowder had not broken its hate speech rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas the language used hate speech? Was there incitement against Carlos Maza from the other creator? In that instance, we found that there was not,\u201d says Mr McOwen Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that remains the right policy decision to have made.\u201d<\/p>\n

That decision disappointed Mr Maza\u2019s supporters \u2013 and many of YouTube\u2019s own staff. More than 100 signed a petition asking for Google to be kicked out of the San Francisco Pride parade.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/span><\/figure>\n

The language may not have been \u201chate speech\u201d, but critics argue that mocking somebody for being gay crosses a line into bullying.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t currently breach our harassment policies,\u201d says Mr McOwen Wilson.<\/p>\n

But he adds: \u201cWe are inarguably pro-LGBT. I wouldn\u2019t want anyone to judge us only on that. I don\u2019t think it invalidates everything else that we\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points out that YouTube has provided a platform for people to express their sexuality in a largely \u201csupportive environment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any of that should be invalidated because of where we have drawn this line on the Maza-Crowder issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time well spent<\/strong><\/p>\n

YouTube tells its video-makers that one key to success on the platform is \u201cwatch time\u201d: making sure viewers stick around for longer.<\/p>\n

Facebook, on the other hand, has been talking more about \u201ctime well spent\u201d on the platform. It says it is more important that people have a good time on Facebook.<\/p>\n

How do the two approaches compare?<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest and most positive steps that was taken on the platform, that drove down a huge amount of trashy content, was the shift from \u2018views\u2019 to watch time\u201d, says Mr McOwen Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way for an audience to tell us whether they like what they\u2019re being served isn\u2019t whether they click on it in the first place, but whether they spent any of their time with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But does the system encourage video-makers to make longer videos, and draw out simple how-to clips into a 20-minute extravaganza?<\/p>\n

Mr McOwen Wilson says the videos which are most viewed are those that people watch in their entirety.<\/p>\n

And he adds: \u201cClearly a longer one that is viewed the whole way through by the majority of its audience is more likely to come up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UK government is currently weighing up how online platforms such as YouTube could be regulated. In April, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said the \u201cera of self-regulation for online companies is over\u201d.<\/p>\n

Is YouTube worried?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment you put somebody in charge\u2026 there is somebody who is filtering what content goes out,\u201d warns Mr McOwen Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re government-appointed, that begins to look very much like censorship, and we don\u2019t launch in markets where that is a risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be the right answer to have anybody at YouTube \u2013 or indeed anywhere else \u2013 editorialising all of the content that comes up on to our platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JeremyImage copyright<\/span>PA MEDIA<\/span><\/span>
Image caption<\/span>Culture secretary Jeremy Wright says the era of self-regulation is over<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And either way, it would be impossible. About 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.<\/p>\n

The summer holidays have started \u2013 or are about to start \u2013 across the UK for thousands of children.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time most of them go back to school, there will be more content uploaded to YouTube than has ever been created in the history of television or film globally,\u201d says Mr McOwen Wilson.<\/p>\n

He suggests a regulator could determine areas where online platforms should have policies, but the platforms themselves should create the policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world will be watching where the UK lands on this,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are regimes out there who will mirror \u2013 in their own ways \u2013 the position that they view the UK has taken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a risk \u2013 and actually a huge opportunity \u2013 for the UK to show leadership on what balanced regulation could look like in an open environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

YouTube has defended its video recommendation algorithms, amid suggestions that the technology serves up increasingly extreme videos. On Thursday, a BBC report explored how\u00a0YouTube had helped the Flat Earth conspiracy theory spread. But the company\u2019s new managing director for the UK, Ben McOwen Wilson, said YouTube \u201cdoes the opposite of taking you down the rabbit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":660661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-660660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\n'We don't take you down the rabbit hole' - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/07\/20\/we-dont-take-you-down-the-rabbit-hole\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"'We don't take you down the rabbit hole' - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"YouTube has defended its video recommendation algorithms, amid suggestions that the technology serves up increasingly extreme videos. 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