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I bought a new phone a few months back, and just for shits and giggles I tried looking at YouTube Shorts without any account logged in. I clicked on a food Shorts, and within 5 Shorts, I got a "manosphere" video, and within 10 Shorts I got Ben Shapiro.
Unfortunately, fear and rage drive engagement, and these Conservative grifters are more than happy to give it to them and more. That on top of corporations being Capitalists and thus right-wing by default.
You can see what Google (thinks it) knows about you.
I think you can even remove stuff if you want.
The algorithm wants engagement first and foremost (positive vs negative is irrelevant), after that it wants to push view points that preserve the status quo since change is scary to shareholders. So of course capitalist/fascist propaganda is preferred especially if the host is wrong about basic facts (being wrong drives engagement.)
A few years ago I downloaded a browser extension to stop showing me recommended videos, both on the homepage and on the side of videos. I can only watch what I'm subscribed to and what I search for - you'd think its a big sacrifice because you can't discover as many videos, but in reality I've gained so much more of my time back and control over what I actually want to watch.
metalurgy, machining, blacksmithing
That could be it. I don't know YouTube's algorithm, but typically they work by finding what other users watch the videos you watch and recommending you other videos those people also watched. I wouldn't be surprised if the guys watching blacksmithing videos also tend to watch Joe Rogan and the like.
Hi, I am a guy in early thirties with a wife and two kids and whenever I go on youtube it always suggests conservative things like guys dunking on women
Yeah it really wants me to watch Tim pool. Its like cmon guys I'm too old for that guys tastes. Tiktok will atleast take the hint
The algorithm is clever enough to know that people that watch a few of those videos are likely to watch a whole lot more. So itβs good business to recommend them as often as possible. If they CAN convince you to dive into that, the stats are that you will start to watch a ton more YouTube content.
I almost never allow it
The times you do allow it are all the algorithm cares about, sadly. Any kind of engagement is great for companies.
"Hate Rogan? Cool, watch some Rogan as hateporn, hate watching is still watching."
I think such content gets most engagement. Dunking on leftist ideas brings right wingers celebrating and parroting the piece while pissed left wingers trying to explain why the argument doesn't make sense.
I'll see major swings in the algorithm from time to time (a week of bass guitar video recommendations for some reason), but I can usually trace back a video or two that I watched that it just decided to try and cram the topic down my throat. I would just say make sure you keep avoiding the conservative vids to try and get the recommendations to stop. I wonder if maybe one of your kids is watching videos on your account and skewing it?
It can also be linked based where it recommends videos that conservatives have enjoyed that seem unrelated. Like maybe watching home improvement videos and historical war videos then the algorithm feeding new content that seems unrelated but actually is according to it, since it's trying to expose you to new interests to expand the time you spend there.
Best I found is just not using YouTube with an account and having cookies cleared on exit, or using newpipe (Android) and freetube (desktop) which let's you have an accountless subscription feed with Adblock and sponsorblock support.
You can view what Google "knows" about you on your account settings. I made my account when I was very young, I lied about my age and my gender, then it made assumptions based on my interests of my professional situation. I guess many people in my gender and age group, sharing my actual interests (tech, movies, culture, food) are also interested in the kind of content you described (Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, Yiannopolous, etc). I keep clicking "not interested", but the algorithm keep suggesting these videos to me. I don't mind that Google doesn't know my politics. I'm a feminist, but there's really not a lot of interesting discourse about feminism on Youtube, so I just read and attend real life lectures instead.
machining
No idea about your algorithm problems but have you seen the Cutting Edge Engineering Australia channel? It's so good.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/zvKG5dgUHNw
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Piped
Cool, I didn't know about this. Good bot.
I get right wing stuff only on YouTube shorts typically. And I think it's because I'll watch them. I find it interesting in a detached sense.
Good to know what you're up against. Same reason I try and watch as many Trump speeches as I reasonably can.
Because controversy makes money and conservatism is filled with controversial opinions and purposely obtuse takes intended to spark conversation and promote divisiveness. Thatβs the grift.
"The calls are coming from inside the house"~~__****
I would wager a guess that it's your regular interests. YouTube sees that people who like machining, blacksmithing, etc. have a good chance of also being conservative. You probably are just part of the odd cases where you like those hobbies but aren't conservative.
Your post raises an interesting point, though: even if YouTube didn't intend for their algorithm to be a pipeline for radicalism, simply by encouraging engagement and viewership, their algorithm ends up becoming a radicalization pipeline anyways.