YouTube may be building different political realities for men and women

YouTube’s recommendation system can shape political exposure differently for users with male-coded versus female-coded viewing habits. A study used 160 automated social bots, with 80 programmed with male-coded viewing habits and 80 with female-coded habits, while both groups began with the same baseline interest in the News & Politics category. The bots completed 150 consecutive interaction steps to track recommendation outcomes. Female-coded accounts encountered a higher overall volume of political videos, but recommended issues diverged sharply. Male-coded profiles were funneled toward confrontational domestic issues such as law, crime, and defense, and toward state-power entities including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice. Female-coded profiles received a broader, more moderate mix including international affairs, culture, and the arts, along with more neutral political content. Male-coded profiles were shown more polarizing content.

"Researchers deployed 160 automated social bots: 80 programmed with what the researchers called male-coded viewing habits like sports and gaming, and 80 with female-coded habits like style and vlogs. Both groups were given the exact same baseline interest in YouTube's News & Politics category. The bots then completed 150 consecutive interaction steps so that researchers could track where the recommendation algorithm led them."

"While female-coded accounts actually encountered a higher overall volume of political videos, the kinds of issues recommended diverged sharply depending on whether the account displayed male- or female-coded habits. Male-coded profiles were disproportionately funneled toward a narrow set of confrontational domestic issues, including law, crime, and defense. They were also pushed heavily toward state-power entities like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice."

"In contrast, female-coded accounts were presented with a broader, more moderate mix of macroeconomic and lifestyle-related public policy topics, including international affairs, culture, and the arts. Female-coded profiles also received significantly more neutral political content, while male-coded profiles were shown more polarizing"

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