Result of Guardian Australia experiment aligns with research showing social media automatically delivers troubling content to young men, largely without oversight

How do the algorithms of Facebook and Instagram affect what you see in your news feed? To find out, Guardian Australia unleashed them on a completely blank smartphone linked to a new, unused email address.

Three months later, without any input, they were riddled with sexist and misogynistic content.

Initially Facebook served up jokes from The Office and other sitcom-related memes alongside posts from 7 News, Daily Mail and Ladbible. A day later it began showing Star Wars memes and gym or “dudebro”-style content.

By day three, “trad Catholic”-type memes began appearing and the feed veered into more sexist content.

Three months later, The Office, Star Wars, and now The Boys memes continue to punctuate the feed, now interspersed with highly sexist and misogynistic images that have have appeared in the feed without any input from the user.

  • Blastboom Strice@mander.xyzEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    I have a ~3year old fb account because I have to use messenger. I don’t use FB almost at all (I even sparingly accept friend requests) and have turned off ~anything that provides targeted content (I live in EU).

    Since about last year (or possibly even before), my feed is about 35% Ikaria ads (a Greek island, I’m from Greece), 10% porn, 10% sexist-misogynistic stuff, 15% sexist-misogynistic porn, 15% christian stuff and the rest random stuff.

    At least this might confirm that turning off targeted content works…🤷

    • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      You know, you can just use Messenger on its own, on desktop web or mobile. I also need to use Messenger in some limited capacity and I have no idea what my feed looks like :)

      • Blastboom Strice@mander.xyzEnglish
        0·
        4 months ago

        You mean without a fb account? I think you’re right, but I think this wasn’t possible when I made the account ~3years ago.

        About desktop web, I’m only using the website on my pc (and I have isolated the app on work profile on my android, while turning off ads with an lsposed module).

        • thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          4 months ago

          Oh, no, I mean I have an account, but I never (…exceedingly rarely) go on Facebook itself. messenger.com is just the messenger with no feed or other features, and there’s a standalone mobile app called Messenger as well, same idea. I use those when I need to interact with someone over Facebook so that I’m not exposed to most of the crap.

          I don’t know anything about using it totally without any account.

          • Blastboom Strice@mander.xyzEnglish
            0·
            4 months ago

            Ahhh, yeah. I too use the messenger app on mobile and the messenger website on pc.

            I just happen to open facebook (I have an open source front end client) from time to time out of boredom, because it’s kinda amusing how bad my feed is :)