How YouTube broke itself

Beware a hungry algorithm

The YouTube logo.
(Image credit: Illustrated | The7Dew/iStock, YouTube)

Late in 2017, writer James Bridle noticed something strange about YouTube. Someone or something was creating odd, disturbing, and downright bizarre videos aimed at kids. After clips of Peppa the Pig or some random nursery rhyme, suggestions were popping up for videos that were weird knockoffs or sometimes even violent.

Many of these clips have since been purged, but the heart of the problem remains: the YouTube algorithm. It's designed at its core to keep suggesting similar videos. This tendency keeps sending people further and further down the hole.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Navneet Alang

Navneet Alang is a technology and culture writer based out of Toronto. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, New Republic, Globe and Mail, and Hazlitt.