US senators say social media letting algorithms ‘run wild’


  • TECH
  • Wednesday, 26 Jun 2019

FILE PHOTO: An attendee takes a photograph of a sign during Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File Photo

WASHINGTON: A US Senate panel on June 26 questioned how major social media companies like Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google unit use algorithms and artificial intelligence to serve up new content to keep users engaged.

The Senate Commerce subcommittee on Communications, Technology and Innovation heard from researchers who criticised the use of artificial intelligence to select content for users. Senators said much of that content is conspiracy theories, partisan viewpoints and misleading information on Google’s YouTube, Facebook and elsewhere.

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