My parents are both in the far-right misinformation gutter on Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram, and maybe some other apps I don’t know about. I had the idea recently to try and surreptitiously deradicalize their algorithms by logging into their accounts and watching content that’ll steer them towards credible information, but I’m not entirely sure what the best approach is. I know that if their feeds suddenly become left-leaning, they’re going to notice something is up. They might even think the platform is trying to do a DEI on them, and may try switching to Truth Social.
Does anyone know if there are resources out there explaining how to do something like this? I’m sure I’m not the first person to have this idea. I don’t use any of these sites/apps myself, so I don’t feel like I know them enough to come up with a solid plan. I don’t wanna fuck it up lol
I did it with my grandmother’s Facebook a few years back by blocking most of the worst of the pages that were spewing that crap. Her feed got boring for her and she switched to reading erotica
That tracks. 🤘🏼🤣
Do they have a YT account?
If they do, you can curate their watch history.
I do it myself and it is highly effective, I have a pretty narrow field that I am interested in when watching youtube, mostly odd history, but also retro tech and travel challenges.
That is what I want to get recommended to me, but I also watch videos from outside that field as I find them interesting as well.
Recently I have been watching Robot Chicken videos on YT, but I don’t really want to have them recommended to me, so I remove them from my watch history, and bam, they are gone from my recommendations!
In this case, if you have access to their YT account you can do this in the background, you can watch interesting, neutral videos to add them to their algorithm, then slowly start removing some of their watch history over months.
I don’t see this as immoral, YT is already weaponizing the algorithm, and has done so for a LONG time, now it is our turn to do so as well.
Anyone arguing to the contrary would’ve likely been a doctor in the 50s, smoking a pack a day in the ER…
A lot of misinformation is served by ads so getting a pihole would go a long way I think.
https://support.google.com/My-Ad-Center-Help/answer/12155451?hl=en
You can customize the profile Google has on you, I’m not sure if it’s the same used by YouTube. YouTube might have a similar section and you can do the same with tiktok in the options somewhere. They will notice if you aren’t subtle. I would do it little by little over a few weeks.
There are antifa blocklists and other good options available for pi-hole and similar as well.
I would doubt the efficacy of watching stuff on their account to try to shift the algorithm. For one, the algorithm appears to naturally select for controversial (and more likely right-leaning) content on its own when left unchecked and without significant history to the contrary. Secondly - and this is the one I can’t help with - your parents are selecting that content. The root problem is there. You can watch all the left-leaning stuff you want but they’re going to counteract it and the algorithm is going to back that up. To the algorithm, what’s more important, a small and recent interest in content entirely unrelated to what it’s accustomed to, or hundreds of hours of watch time on accounts the user is still subscribed to and also watches?
Well from personal experience I can tell you that curating the watch history is highly effective at changing the recommended videos yt serves you.
But they need to have an account for OP to be able to fully use this, else you can’t delete watched videos on yt.
Exactly, without a change of viewing habits on their part, the algorithm will naturally just pull back to insaneo land.
I have to constantly battle YouTube trying to serve me right wing trash.
Sooo this. I have a YouTube account with history and tracking turned off since the day I signed up. All of the promoted content is divisive hysteria, mostly
alt-rightfascist rage-bait.I have had my YT account for about 20 years, and curating my watch history is highly effective in my experience.
So if OP manage to access their parents account, they can slowly watch interesting but neutral videos while starting to remove older videos from their history.
For youtube, you can nudge the algo by hitting I’m not interested on a video. Maybe a ton of that?
You could just block it on the router and tell them that Facebook burnt down
One thing kids like is to be tricked.
For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse.
“Oh, no,” I said. “Disneyland burned down.” He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke.
I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.
From your lips to god’s ears
