Companies like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and TikTok often know about the harmful effects of their algorithmic systems and yet continue to prevent independent research on them. Data donations like DataSkop are one of the few ways to investigate opaque algorithms.
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Several thousands of supporters donated their YouTube profile data on our platform DataSkop. We have developed a simulator that is designed to demonstrate basic principles of recommendation algorithms such as YouTube's.
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First findings of a data donation experiment by AlgorithmWatch show that Die Welt, a conservative news outlet from the German media conglomerate Axel Springer, dominates the news section.
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Using thousands of data donations from AlgorithmWatch’s Instagram monitoring browser plug-in, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung showed that posts from the far-right appear higher on users’ timelines.
Read moreDigital platforms play an ever-increasing role in structuring and influencing public debate. Civil society watchdogs, researchers and journalists need to be able to hold them to account. But Facebook is increasingly fighting those who try. It shut down New York University’s Ad Observatory last week, and went after AlgorithmWatch, too. The European Parliament and EU Member States must act now to prevent further bullying.
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Which videos does YouTube's recommender system suggest to users during the german election campaign? The new data donation platform “Dataskop” developed by AlgorithmWatch is helping researchers and journalists investigate how users' watch histories influence the platform’s recommendations and search results. From 15 July until 25 August, users can donate their data and explore the algorithm in data visualization experiments.
Read moreHelp us unveil the secrets of Instagram's algorithm
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