This is what YouTube was made for, and its beautiful.
However, the real issue is the videos wedontseek out: YouTubes recommendations.
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These are the videos you should be wary of, according to Guillaume Chaslot.
He says the motivations behind it are deeply flawed as it isnt really about what the viewer wants.
This would be amazing, Chaslot told TNW.
Recommendations were designed to waste your time.
Chaslot explains that the metric the algorithm uses to determine a successful recommendations is watch time.
Google completely disagrees with Chaslot, but well get to that later.
Mark Zuckerberg admitted last year thatborderline content was more engaging.
Weve got to realize that YouTube recommendations are toxic and it perverts civic discussion, says Chaslot.
But what about actual, concrete examples of problematic recommendations?
watch time doesnt equal quality) as an example of why its bad for us as a society.
But to actually show its effects, he made theAlgoTransparencytool after he left Google.
The tool is meant to give people a better overview of whats actually being recommended on YouTube.
The video upholds what could be considered a Kremlin-friendly narrative and slams mainstream media.
Naturally, Chaslots claim caught the attention of the media and wascovered widely.
Now its important to get Googles side of things.
As with most assertions made by AlgoTransparency, we have been unable to reproduce the results here.
Chaslot says that if there are discrepancies with his results, hed love to know what they are.
But the company hasnt revealed more information on the matter.
What should we do about it?
YouTube doesnt really provide any options now for users to control the recommendations they receive.
So what can you do?
The best short-term solution is to simply delete the recommendation function.
I really dont think its useful at all to the user, Chaslot explains.
All of this is just to treat the symptoms, not the cause.
Chaslot believes the real focus needs to be on long term solutions.
Story byMar Masson Maack
Mar tries to juggle his editorial duties with writing the occasional weird article.
He also loves talking about himself in the third person.
