Mozilla has come out with a timely browser extension to encourage end-users to monitor YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. Regrets Reporter (a play on the phenomenon of “YouTube Regrets”) lets users send in reports about harmful videos that were recommended to them.
Using this crowdsourced end-user data, Mozilla will collaborate with researchers, journalists, policymakers, and YouTube engineers to construct more trustworthy recommendation engines. Meanwhile, Mozilla Fellow Emmi Bevensee, working at the anti-Defamation League and in collaboration with Network Contagion Research Institute, Pushshift, Open Collective, and iDramaLab, has just released an open source tool to help researchers and activists monitor dis- and misinformation. The Social Media Analysis Toolkit (SMAT) uses data visualizations to analyze discussion on Twitter, Reddit, 4chan, and 8chan (Telegram, Parler, and Gab coming soon). While we wait for the outcome - (and implementation) - of the Digital Services Act, this is an important reminder that there are ways to address transparency and research challenges in the immediate-term that might exceed, and enhance, regulatory response
