Suggestions for Sanitizing YouTube Recommendations and Search Results

Too Long; Didn't Read

Hateful YouTube videos or spurious Search results are a source of controversy which has spilled over to Congress as witnessed by the rough questions Google CEO Sundar Pichai had to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-search-for-anti-conservative-bias-on-google" target="_blank">handle</a>. Automatic YouTube feeds have become so normal (with the default auto-play setting being ‘on’) that this is a favorite pastime of many, to keep watching feeds. My son keeps watching YouTube videos to no end, without any knowledge about how trustful the video source is. And one can’t underestimate the influence such unvetted information can have on gullible minds, young and impressionable. Google, surely would be seized of this huge issue which has a potential to fuel violence. The Washington pizzeria shooting is an example and another incident of a more violent nature can bring Google (and Alphabet) right under the cross-hairs of the Government or the courts. Google’s answer to questions by Congressmen did not sound convincing. Transferring the blame to algorithms cannot absolve Google of the responsibility if something serious happens. It is their duty to ensure the algorithm does not let spurious, hateful information end up on a kid’s phone (or anyone’s phone).