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YouTube algorithm picks 9/11 content for livestream of Notre Dame fire
Watching the Notre Dame cathedral in France burn today live on YouTube was upsetting enough to just about everyone, but what appeared below the video set off many people for another reason.
YouTube’s algorithm made an apparent goof in somehow relating the conflagration to the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York City. Below streams from various media, YouTube provided users explainer content for 9/11. That content came from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Lately YouTube has tried to crack down on content that could be accused of being outlandish conspiracy theories, and one thing the company has done is provide additional content to media from reputable sources. It’s presumed that this was the idea for the links that appeared below the Notre Dame stream, but it seems the algorithm might need a bit more fine-tuning.
Authorities have not said the fire was linked to terrorism or any other kind of criminality. CBS News later reported that the fire was likely related to renovations being made to the building.
YouTube said in a statement that indeed the link below the stream should have provided related additional content, but that didn’t happen. The algorithm did get one thing right and that was to pull up related search results from trusted media.
“Last year, we launched information panels with links to third party sources like Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia for subjects subject to misinformation,” YouTube said in a statement. “These panels are triggered algorithmically and our systems sometimes make the wrong call. We are disabling these panels for live streams related to the fire.”
YouTube came under fire for the incident, with critics saying that the mistake was indicative of how little control the platform has over itself. Others said that perhaps for such a historic event, a few human editors might be called in to see if the algorithm is working properly.
If tech can’t keep this under control then maybe it’s time to throw in the towel https://t.co/f9CELZrEqj
— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) 15 เมษายน 2562
Image: YouTube
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