Playing The Algorithm

https://bit.ly/34xRHCn

It should come as no surprise to anyone that our data is being used. No matter how secret we keep it, there’s always going to be someone, somewhere, using the data on our phones and on our search history to pander to us in any way possible. Hell, I saw this first hand the other night online: My dad and I were looking up headphones that I might want, and I mentioned Raycons. We looked them up once, and then, on any other site we went to, we saw advertisements for Raycons all over the place. That was just from one search!

            Now, getting a lot of headphone advertisements isn’t that bad, I know. However, what if it was something more important than that? Let’s say, for example, we looked up something political. For me, I don’t know a lot about politics, and don’t really care to know about them since it causes a lot of conflict between people I know. However, every now and then I look something up to see what everyone’s talking about. Afterwards, I get some stuff on my feed or in my browsers about different political parties, even if I didn’t specifically look them up! Not only that, but, on Twitter, I might even get political advertisements showing up on my feed!

            This sort of idea is something we talked about in Social Media this week, though I feel that limiting it only to the more conventional versions of social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the like) isn’t good enough. Rather, it would be important for us to realize that in every facet of our online outlook, be it browsers, Youtube or just regular sites in general, politics could have a large effect on what we look at. What I mean by this is that when we look something up, political parties have the potential to throw things in our faces that we might not even want to look at. I think this is because these parties or companies that are assisting these parties are playing the algorithm that governs the internet all the time.

            I can understand that this sounds very convoluted (hell, a lot of things do nowadays), but allow me to try and give some examples of what I’m talking about when it comes to this. Now, Youtube is something I’m on every single day. Right as I’m writing this, I’m listening to a lo-fi radio station to work on this post. However, before I even clicked into the radio station, something caught my eye. Just below it, I could see Donald Trump’s face on a Youtube video, followed by numerous news videos about COVID 19. While it might not have specifically been about Trump in all the videos, these videos were still presented to me without me looking up anything about COVID. This is because Youtube is, and has been for some time now, using its platform as a way of spreading news cover stories, since so many people use the site. Now, if they wanted to, Youtube could also begin presenting its users with videos about different political things happening in the US based on what we already watch. If we don’t really like what we see, we can give Youtube feedback. As a result of that feedback, we might get a fresh page of political advertisement or news stories that might fit our mold a bit better, akin to how Twitter changes what you see based on your own tastes and interests.

https://bit.ly/3b7LM9S

            While Youtube is just one example, it is important to see that the internet as a whole can be used as a way of promoting an agenda, of playing the algorithm. If companies cared to, which a lot of them did/do, they can pump dozens upon dozens of advertisements up onto whatever platform they desire, forcing it into people’s faces and requiring them to have some input on what they are seeing. By that same token, political parties can pump out hundreds of advertisements onto whatever platform they want and do the exact same thing. If I remember correctly, there was a time when Biden was using Youtube as his campaigning platform, forcing advertisements for his campaign to come up on the site and not allowing people to skip them. I’m sure this happened on multiple other sites as well for other people. Now, with the current state of affairs when it comes to COVID 19 and us being forced to stay at home, it wouldn’t be too far out of the realms of reality for other political things to be forced into our faces on any platform we use. I could see Youtube turning into a battleground of political beliefs, video upon video being thrown in my face when I’m just trying to watch a speedrun of a game. While searching up something on the internet, it could absolutely be possible to see random political ads show up on the screen, not matter how many times I exit out of them. With how much is going to be forced into an online format when it comes to politics, it wouldn’t surprise me to see every facet of the internet turn into a battlefield, forcing us to pick one side or the other.