YouTube's recommendation algorithm was found to be promoting climate misinformation videos to millions of users, with 16% of top 'related videos' for 'global warming' searches containing climate disinformation.
Avaaz, an activist group, conducted an investigation into YouTube's recommendation system and found that the platform was actively promoting climate misinformation through its algorithm. When users searched for terms like 'global warming,' 'climate change,' or 'climate manipulation,' 16% of the top 100 'related videos' in the 'Up Next' feature contained climate disinformation. The investigation revealed that YouTube's recommendation algorithm was giving these misinformation videos free promotion and exposing millions of users who wouldn't have otherwise encountered such content. Additionally, YouTube was monetizing this climate misinformation content through its advertising program, where 55% of ad revenue goes to video creators and 45% to YouTube. Major brands including Samsung, L'Oreal, Warner Bros, Carrefour, and Danone, as well as environmental groups like Greenpeace International and World Wildlife Fund, were found to have advertisements running on these climate misinformation videos, often without their knowledge. Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor urged Google to take action by removing climate denial and disinformation from YouTube's recommendation algorithm and preventing monetization of videos promoting harmful climate misinformation.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that inadvertently generate or spread incorrect or deceptive information, which can lead to inaccurate beliefs in users and undermine their autonomy. Humans that make decisions based on false beliefs can experience physical, emotional or material harms
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed