Algorithms

Against Big Tech’s Algorithmic Cancel Culture

March 3, 2021 Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report. Resist! Algorithms, Big Tech, Censorship, Liberal class

The Critical Media Literacy Conference of the Americas , the lead organizer for that is Dr. Nolan Higdon , whom I've worked with for years on various things. And Project Censored was a co-sponsor of this event. It was also co-sponsored by several academic institutions, including UCLA, USC, UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, and Cal State across the State of California. So, in other words, as I’ve mentioned in a couple of other interviews, Alan Macleod over at Mint Press News, did a pretty in-depth piece on this. I know you talked about it; I think in a Black Agenda Report piece. This is an ongoing issue. This is an issue of Big Tech gatekeeping, algorithmic censorship. We have not been able to get any real feedback from YouTube about what happened, except that they, in true Orwellian fashion, flipped the script, and basically tried to say that Nolan didn't upload the videos or that the videos maybe didn't exist in the first place.

The Trust Project: Big Media And Silicon Valley’s Weaponized Algorithms Silence Dissent

June 10, 2019 By Whitney Webb, Mintpressnews.com Educate! Algorithms, Corporate Media, Silicon Valley

Given the Trust Project’s rich-get-richer impact on the online news landscape, it is not surprising to find that it is funded by a confluence of tech oligarchs and powerful forces with a clear stake in controlling the flow of news. After the failure of Newsguard — the news rating system backed by a cadre of prominent neoconservative personalities — to gain traction among American tech and social media companies, another organization has quietly stepped in to direct the news algorithms of tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.

Stop Using Discriminatory AI, Human Rights Groups Say

May 26, 2018 Dan Robitzski, Futurism.com Create! Algorithms, Human Rights, New Economy

When it comes to developing artificial intelligence, President Trump may want a free-market approach. But a number of experts disagree — we need guidelines to protect people from discriminatory algorithms. Today, a group of humans rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, The Wikimedia Foundation, Access Now, and others called on governments and technology companies to adopt guiding principles to protect human rights. As part of today’s RightsCon Toronto symposium, the organizations joined to pen the Toronto Declaration on Machine Learning, which can be found in full on Access Now’s website. The declaration calls for engineers to develop and revisit algorithms with the explicit goal of promoting transparency and equality while working to end algorithm-propagated racism and discrimination.

Cowardly New World: Alternative Media Under Attack By Algorithms

October 30, 2017 Kollibri Terre Sonnenblume, www.counterpunch.org Educate! Algorithms, Censorship, Freedom of Press, Internet, Media

By Kollibri Terre Sonnenblume for Counter Punch - An insidious assault is underway against alternative media on the internet. Leftist and progressive websites have been suffering significant declines in traffic. Some have had online income sources cut. Many others have been publicly defamed. Who is behind this onslaught? Must be Trump and the Republicans, right? Nope. It was started by the Democratic leadership during the 2016 election campaign and is being executed by liberal-leaning tech giants, mainly Google and Facebook. Essential to the fight has been the mainstream media, which has been doing what it does best: fanning the flames of fear. Lest you think I am painting a picture of a tightly-organized, top-down conspiracy here, let me assure you that I am not. Some right-wing alternative media outlets have been doing so, because they too have been attacked by the same parties and that’s where they go with it, but they miss key aspects of the big picture. (I.e., anyone who believes Obama was a Marxist has a lot to learn!) By naming the Democratic leadership, tech companies and mainstream media, I am merely pointing at participants, not describing a cabal, though they are certainly united in the common concerns of their class. The trouble started about a year ago, just after the election, when the “fake news” meme suddenly surged through mainstream media channels.

When Algorithms Decide What You Pay

October 14, 2016 Julia Angwin, Terry Parris Jr. and Surya Mattu, www.propublica.org Educate! Algorithms, Digital, discrimination

By Julia Angwin, Terry Parris Jr. and Surya Mattu for ProPublica - YOU MAY NOT REALIZE IT, but every website you visit is created, literally, the moment you arrive. Each element of the page — the pictures, the ads, the text, the comments — live on computers in different places and are sent to your device when you request them. That means that it’s easy for companies to create different web pages for different people. Sometimes that customization is helpful, such as when you see search results for restaurants near you.

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