Machine Learning and its role in promoting Radicalization

You’re probably wondering, what does machine learning have to do with the rise in radicalized minds we see online today? But as we take a deep dive, you’ll see a much clearer picture.

Humans are social creatures hence we get influenced by what we see and hear, every human today has ideologies, beliefs and reasoning which are greatly influenced by their interactions with other humans – from rules given to us as kids, our experience with certain people, as well as experiences of other humans we hear about, all this shape our perception of the world and how we view and treat others.

Machine Learning has improved operations across various fields, from medicine to aviation to even the military. It has opened a world of possibilities to us, but one particular field it’s quite effective in is the media industry, especially the social media industry. Social media is a useful tool; it helps us communicate across the group, gives us access to videos from other individuals, and empowers everyone with a much bigger voice. What could go wrong?

Machine Learning algorithms in Social Media determine the kind of content you would like to watch and read by understanding your habits and patterns. This doesn’t sound bad, other than the obvious “data collection and privacy” concerns. Aside from that, it seems like a win-win situation, but there’s a trap, in particular, a feedback loop trap. The algorithm recommends content it assumes you like, you watch the content, the algorithm registers you like that content, and keeps giving you more, and with that, the loop continues.

This doesn’t seem all that bad, at least you get to watch and read content that aligns with your interests, but that’s the issue, ‘content’. For many, social media is a world limited by their imaginations; they can be whoever they want to be, say whatever they want to say, act like experts in fields they are not, or even narrate events that didn’t happen – at least they are shielded by their keyboard. The content made is what gets recommended to individuals, leading to the consumption of an unhealthy amount of toxicity by social media users, gradually radicalizing them and affecting their perception of other humans, races, religions, countries, and the real world.

Social media and Machine learning are amazing pieces of technology, but when using social media, be careful of the kind of content you consume, to avoid getting stuck in a feedback loop of toxic content affecting your relationship with individuals around you