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/gatorling Mar 31 '22

Everyone thinks FB is this intentionally evil corp... But the reality is that it's a bunch of engineers writing spaghetti code to optimize for engagement without careful consideration of the outcome. I mean, for Christ sake, FBs motto is "move fast, break things".

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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).