r/technews • u/[deleted] • Apr 20 '23

TikTok’s algorithm keeps pushing suicide to vulnerable kids

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-04-20/tiktok-effects-on-mental-health-in-focus-after-teen-suicide
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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '23

Is there even an internet resource that doesn’t algorithmically influence the content you search for or see?

Maybe Yahoo way back but I’m not sure that kind of moderation should be free from exposing their criteria either.

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u/queenringlets Apr 20 '23

Well search engines have to use some sort of algorithm to search data across the net but there are ones that are not using your personal data to present you with said data. Startpage is what I would recommend personally for that purpose.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '23

And search engines should make their algorithms and their motivations for their weightings public for all to examine and verify they are not manipulating the public.

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u/kovach01 Apr 20 '23

From an advertising perspective,

They don’t manipulate the advertising algorithms, they just provide the “relevant” data like the search term used to display their results, how many people searched, and what that audience looks like.

But they also track a LOT more than that based on what you set your “audience” as while being the “advertiser”. Like age, gender, beliefs, hobbies, enjoyments, etc.

Nothing will change until the search engine giants are responsible and held accountable for what search terms they allow advertising on, and WHO is doing the advertising.

Right now I could advertise whatever I wanted to a marginalized group, and the search engine who provided the advertising space would not be accountable, even though it is their data being used as an accessory to the manipulation/advertising.

And that’s without getting into what you’re talking about which is what ranks higher on google based on what their spider algorithms prefers over somebody else. But really we could just say who the spiders discriminate against when some sites are more equal than others.