what you need to know
- A new Mozilla study suggests YouTube’s feedback tools aren’t effective at preventing bad recommendations.
- Unwanted types of videos continued to pop up even after test participants had previously “disliked” similar content.
- More than 20,000 YouTube users participated in the study, which analyzed over 500 million videos.
YouTube users have typically attempted to customize the types of videos they see on the platform by pressing certain buttons, but YouTube’s feedback tools appear to have little to no impact on video recommendations posted on their platform, according to a new study home page appear.
Mozilla has published new findings (opens in new tab) suggesting that YouTube’s “Dislike” and “Not Interested” buttons, among other feedback options, barely work. According to crowdsourced data from over 20,000 YouTube users, the platform’s controls don’t make them feel like they control content recommendations.
According to the study, the dislike button blocked only 12% of unwanted video recommendations, while the “not interested” button blocked only 11% of recommendations marked as uninteresting by users.
However, using the Do Not Recommend Channel and Remove From Watch History buttons appeared to do a better job of stopping bad recommendations, blocking 43% and 29% of unwanted recommendations, respectively.
Responses were collected via Mozilla’s RegretsReporter browser plugin, which allows users to opt out of certain types of video recommendations. More than 500 million videos analyzed. Mozilla used a combination of ratings from its research assistants and machine learning to identify “bad recommendations,” meaning video suggestions that resemble those previously rejected by study participants.
Ultimately, the study shows that none of the platform’s methods effectively prevented unwanted videos from appearing on the homepage. On the other hand, this means that more than half of the bad suggestions got through.
The report comes as the YouTube Partners Program has expanded to include more creators, including those on YouTube Shorts who have had at least 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days.
Mozilla’s findings could lead to accusations that YouTube is willing to ignore user feedback to improve viewing metrics for creators. However, YouTube explained that it cannot completely block recommendations that a user has indicated that they do not want to see.
“We’re giving viewers control over their recommendations, including the ability to opt out of having a video or channel recommended to them in the future,” Elena Hernandez, a YouTube spokeswoman, told Android Central. “It’s important that our controls don’t filter out entire topics or viewpoints, as this could have a negative impact on viewers, such as: B. the creation of echo chambers.”
Mozilla eventually called out Google for what it describes as “ineffective user controls.” The organization recommends that YouTube give users more control over how they design their experience. Mozilla adds that these methods should be easily accessible and understandable.
“YouTube should give researchers access to better tools to assess the signals affecting YouTube’s algorithm,” Mozilla added.
“We welcome academic research on our platform, which is why we recently expanded Data API access through our YouTube Researcher program,” said Hernandez.
The YouTube spokesperson also criticized that Mozilla’s study doesn’t “take into account how our systems actually work, and so it’s difficult for us to get a lot of insights.”
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