Watching anything atheist or even philosophical on youtube would Autoplay you straight to the alt-right a couple years ago. Or to a video of a still image explaining why trans people are spooky.
There is still some of this. A lot of benign looking “Stoicism” videos are alt right adjacent in the sense that they’re targeted at men that are struggling so YouTube immediately sends you to Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson videos.
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My pop is watching it as well. Apparently that’s where Mark fking Halperin landed. He is the guy who used to always appear on MSNBC before he got got by MeToo, ldo Newsmax doesn’t care about sexual harassment.
You would think this could be easily demonstrated during Congressional hearings. Maybe they will try it.
One of my deplorables found it yesterday and had to share his excitement with the world.
“Newsmax is awesome! Honest and ‘right’ newscasting. Plus, they report the unbelievable hypocrisy spewing from the left.”
LOL
“FOX doesn’t spend enough time owning the libs so I found an even more insane echo chamber to tell me what I want to hear”
imagine proudly proclaiming that on social media
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Maybe. Many eDems are way too old to lead that kind of initiative (imagine Feinstein trying to relate YouTube to the concept of fax machines) and they are also too selfish and proud to hand it over to a younger person to explain.
It’s incredibly frustrating that you can’t customize YouTube recommendations. I have watched a few Trump rallies on YT because the news wasn’t covering them, so now they recommend me tons of right wing media along with all of my normal breadtube, chess, and video game stuff that I spend 99% of my time watching.
Worse, a few months ago I got an ad for some kind of dudebro weight loss system. The ad was like 5 minutes long and started with the guy saying just insane shit about how you lose weight, so I watched a few minutes for the lulz. All of my ads immediately turned into a bunch of gross ads about how to get laid, how to build muscles, etc. It’s like at the first hint of toxic masculinity from a user, they just send an avalanche of bullshit at you.
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Just click the 3 dots under recommended videos and click “Don’t recommend channel”, spend a few minutes doing it for crazy right wing stuff you are getting and the youtube algorithm should figure it out and fix your recommendations.
Some of the algorithms are pretty funny. I recently started watching some YouTube content on time management, I find them quite helpful to develop good habits around daily planning and setting priorities in the permanent WFH setting. But apparently these videos are affiliated with people that are chronic workplace failures because I now get a TON of recommendations for videos on how to make $X per year flipping shit on eBay. There is a huge scam industry for people that are flailing around in the workplace and are desperate for an “out”.
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My ads are all for cancer screening and I never really google health symptoms or talk about anything related to cancer. It freaks me out a little, like the algorithm has detected something I haven’t.
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I’ll stop referring to you as a cancer on the forum.
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I used to be very irritated by MLM’s marketing at me, but now I find it genuinely hilarious and immediately begin counter selling any MLM person I encounter. It helps that I’m a real B2B salesperson who gets paid 60% of the gross profit he generates every week. My favorite line is to say that if I sold the thing they are trying to sell me in my business I’d get Y$ next Friday and ask them what their split is.
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Now since I posted about it I just got like 4 ads for lung cancer. Shit, right now I’m making it worse.
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It’s a lot more likely the algorithm has figured out you have issues with anxiety.
If I was marketing cancer screening and I could target people who likely had cancer vs people who likely had anxiety and I was trying to profit maximize I know which one I’d pick.
Never forget that the algorithm is probing for your weaknesses NOT for opportunities to help you. That’s why at the slightest whiff of toxic masculinity it’s going hard in the paint trying to grift you with it.
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Yea honestly though the ad algorithm is amazing technology and I actually kind of like the ads - I find great products from them sometimes. But it’s all just consume consume consume. If they bothered to use this technology for good rather than for profit, they could accomplish a lot for society.
I kind of laugh at people who think their phones are listening to every word they speak and that’s how the ads are so precise. Dude they don’t even need that much data to figure stuff out about you. Human beings are remarkably similar and follow similar patterns. Everyone likes to think they are their own special snowflake but honestly we all do and think the same shit a lot of the time. Algorithms are great at finding patterns and humans are creatures of habit.
It’s scary where this tech is going though. It’s actually a really interesting topic. I think machine learning and AI is one of the biggest societal threats.
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And that type of tech isn’t even something new. It makes me think of the 20 Questions game that was popular around 2000 or so. That could pinpoint the most random answer with just a few questions. Targeting ads based off of how you use your technology can’t be all too much more difficult.
If you’ve never played 20Q, check it out here. It’s pretty awesome.
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You can also remove videos from your watch history. This has been effective for me when I forget to switch to my account and watch a video on my daughter’s account. So far no recommendations of non-kids stuff for her.
Youtube WOAT
I started playing this. I was thinking of Ben folds and it asked if I was thinking of Wesley Willis. A wave of nostalgia just washed over me. Rock And Roll McDonald’s was the Freebird of its time
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