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Censorship By Algorithm Does Far More Damage Than Conventional Censorship
Johnstone, Caitlin
http://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/01/24/censorship-by-algorithm-does-far-more-damage-than-conventional-censorship/Date Written: 2022-01-24 Year Published: 2022 Resource Type: Pamphlet Cx Number: CX24480 By mid-2017 independent media outlets were already reporting across ideological lines that algorithm changes from important sources of viewership like Google had suddenly begun hiding their content from people who were searching for the subjects they reported on. Abstract: - Excerpt: Arguably the most significant political moment in the United States since 9/11 and its immediate aftermath was when Democrats and their allied institutions concluded that Donald Trump's election was a failure not of establishment politics but of establishment narrative control. From that point onwards, any online media creator who consistently disputes the narratives promoted by the same news outlets who've lied to us about every war has seen their view counts and new follows slashed. By mid-2017 independent media outlets were already reporting across ideological lines that algorithm changes from important sources of viewership like Google had suddenly begun hiding their content from people who were searching for the subjects they reported on. "In case anyone wants to know how Facebook suppression works - I have 330,000 followers there but they've stopped showing my posts to many people," Redacted Tonight host Lee Camp tweeted in January 2018. "I used to gain 6,000 followers a week. I now gain 500 and FB unsubscribes people without their knowledge - so my total number never increases." I saw my own shares and view counts rapidly diminish in 2017 as well, and saw my new Facebook page follows suddenly slow to a virtual standstill. It wasn't until I started using mailing lists and giving indie media outlets blanket permission to republish all my content that I was able to grow my audience at all. And Silicon Valley did eventually admit that it was in fact actively censoring voices who fall outside the mainstream consensus. In order to disprove the false right-wing narrative that Google only censors rightist voices, the CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet admitted in 2020 to algorithmically throttling World Socialist Website. Last year the CEO of Google-owned YouTube acknowledged that the platform uses algorithms to elevate "authoritative sources" while suppressing "borderline content" not considered authoritative, which apparently even includes just marginally establishment-critical left-of-center voices ... The goal is to normalize internet censorship on every front, and the powerful will push for that normalization to be expanded at every opportunity. Whether you dislike the controversial figure being deplatformed on a given day is entirely irrelevant; it's not about them, it's about expanding and normalizing internet censorship protocols on monopolistic government-tied speech platforms. But far, far more consequential than overt censorship of individuals is censorship by algorithm. No individual being silenced does as much real-world damage to free expression and free thought as the way ideas and information which aren't authorized by the powerful are being actively hidden from public view, while material which serves the interests of the powerful is the first thing they see in their search results ... You've probably noticed this if you've tried to search YouTube for videos which don't align with the official narratives of western governments and media lately. That search function used to work like magic; like it was reading your mind. Now it's almost impossible to find the information you're looking for unless you're trying to find out what the US State Department wants you to think. It's the same with Google searches and Facebook, and because those giant platforms dictate what information gets seen by the general public, that wild information bias toward establishment narratives bleeds into other common areas of interaction like Twitter as well. ... The idea is to let most people freely share dissident ideas and information about empire, war, capitalism, authoritarianism and propaganda, but to make it increasingly difficult for them to get their content seen and heard by people, and to make their going viral altogether impossible. To avoid the loud controversies and uncomfortable public scrutiny brought on by acts of overt censorship as much as possible while silently sweeping unauthorized speech behind the curtain. To make noncompliant voices "disappear from view so slowly you won't even notice," as Cook put it. Subject Headings |