Instagram Displayed Negative Related Hashtags For Biden, But Hid Them For Trump
Last edited Wed Aug 5, 2020, 09:05 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: BuzzFeed
For at least the last two months, a key Instagram feature, which algorithmically pushes users toward supposedly related content, has been treating hashtags associated with President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in very different ways. Searches for Biden also return a variety of pro-Trump messages, while searches for Trump-related topics only returned the specific hashtags, like #MAGA or #Trump — which means searches for Biden-related hashtags also return counter-messaging, while those for Trump do not.
Earlier this week, a search on Instagram for #JoeBiden would have surfaced nearly 390,000 posts tagged with the former vice president’s name along with related hashtags selected by the platform’s algorithm. Users searching Instagram for #JoeBiden might also see results for #joebiden2020, as well as pro-Trump hashtags like #trump2020landslide and #democratsdestroyamerica.
A similar search for #DonaldTrump on the platform, however, provided a totally different experience. Besides showing 7 million posts tagged with the president’s name, Instagram did not present any related hashtags that would have pushed users toward different content or promoted alternative viewpoints.
The difference between these two results, which an Instagram spokesperson told BuzzFeed News was a “bug,” prevented hashtags including #Trump and #MAGA from being associated with potentially negative content. Meanwhile, Instagram hashtags associated with the Democratic presidential candidate — #JoeBiden and #Biden, for example — were presented alongside content that included overtly pro-Trump content and attacks on the former vice president.
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Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/instagram-related-hashtags-favoring-trump-over-biden
Well, Zuckerberg?
____
I've edited this hours later to change the subject line, since BuzzFeed changed the headline some time after I posted the OP -- and after they tweeted about it:
Link to tweet
= new reply since forum marked as read
posting anti-trumpie replies on a Democratic site called "The Palmer Report" (very insightful guy)
First time they email "we need your cell phone number to insure you're not a Russian troll." So
they never call, I change how I spell my last name, they give me a new account, I go back to talking
to friends on Palmer Report for 4/5 weeks, here comes their suspicious email/need cell phone
again and true to form no phone call from FB. Have no plans to change my name again just to get
back on there. fuckerburg HATES DEMOCRATS and will deny us our 1st amendment rights.
changed.
