YouTube changes its search algorithm after the confusion generated during the Las Vegas shooting
Google seems to have taken note of several things that have happened after the lamentable shooting in Las Vegas. The controversy began because several threads of 4chan appeared as reliable means in the searches:
Also, apparently Google is putting 4chan threads in their top story unit now? So, the number one hit for his name is a /pol/ thread. pic.twitter.com/OYwW6pbWvy
— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) October 2, 2017
Something similar happened on YouTube, because when you looked for “Las Vegas shooting” appeared in the top one video in which several shooters were reported (when authorities had already confirmed that there was only one). The company has stated that it will make changes to the search algorithm so that this does not happen again.
As a reader just pointed out, it's been two days and the third YouTube result for "las vegas shooting" is a false flag video with a million+ views. pic.twitter.com/26cFmHIC0T
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) October 4, 2017
The video in question was titled “Proof Las Vegas Shooting Was a FALSE FLAG Attack-Shooter on 4th Floor,” and garnered more than a million hits in 27 hours. YouTube removed the video days later, specifically on October 4.
In a statement, Google claims that “they have thousands of means that present different points of view” of each news. After this week, they have accelerated the arrival of a new algorithm that will help to show more reliable sources in the searches, although they have not revealed how the algorithm will work to know which means fulfill the requirements and which does not.
The truth is that YouTube is the reference tool to search for videos of all kinds, and its ability to recommend other clips is one of its strengths. The problem is that there is still a lot left to work correctly.
This happens with all kinds of content. To put another example fast, if we look for a certain group of music (which is famous enough), we will see hundreds of false videos appear that pretend to be the last director of the band. Obviously, they will take that information from concert portals and will generate this videos-hook automatically.
It is something that has been doing for a long time, and are channels that repeat the same strategy over and over again. As we see, Google and YouTube have a lot of work to do when it comes to removing fake or unreliable content today.
Obviously, it is very important that they look for ways that videos with wrong information do not appear recommended in moments as delicate as the one suffered this week in Las Vegas. In this way, they will get more users to choose this platform when they are aware of breaking news.