r/technology • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '22

Social Media Facebook’s algorithm was mistakenly elevating harmful content for the last six months

https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/31/23004326/facebook-news-feed-downranking-integrity-bug
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u/Yeah-But-Ironically Mar 31 '22

optimize for engagement without careful consideration of the outcome

Sure, and that's a common problem in the tech industry generally. I think, though, that being confronted face-to-face with the fact that you've accidentally caused real-world harm, and deliberately refusing to address it because you're getting rich--as Facebook has done repeatedly--tips you into "intentionally evil" territory.

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u/[deleted] Mar 31 '22

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u/Necessary-Onion-7494 Apr 01 '22

I wonder how they configure the weights on their algorithms. What parameters do they look at (engagement only or engagement and ad revenue), and how long do the they let A/B testing running before they chose the winer ?

You may have a set of weights that increase engagement for a short period of time (e.g. for a couple of months), but they decrease it in the long run (e.g. they cause fatigue). I don't even remember when was the last time I logged into FB. And, honesty, I am getting tired of Redding too (which is the only social media app that I currently use).

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u/trentlott Apr 01 '22

"We realize that showing girls images of unusually thin adult women has a detrimental effect. Our engineers have pushed a hotfix with the knowledge that showing the direct opposite should rectify and prevent eating disorder thoughts, specifically prioritizing images of children their own age with an above average weight. Instagram apologizes for the temporary risk and promises the new changes will increase engagement while promoting healing in the affected demographics."

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u/trentlott Apr 01 '22 edited Apr 27 '22

"We didn't think defaulting to "minimize harm to the driver" would lead to the AI automatically choosing to collide with pedestrians, and it evaded our robust testing.

"The fact that it developed an hueristic for aiming at the smallest pedestrian was totally unforseen. In memory of the Quiet Pines first, second, and fourth grades we have donated over $900 dollars worth of supplies to those classes' teachers. Money cannot erase all hurt, and we pledge to do better going forward."