If recommendation algos aren’t shared then we need - by legislation, if necessary - a switch that turns the recommendation engine off.

And still, this will only solve part of the problem. Your data is still (legally and illegally) collected, shared, sold and analysed.

You must be able to say no to any data collection and analysis for an effective remedy. Actually, no should be the default and an explicit opt-in with warnings for your health and well-being should be mandatory.

I’ve formed the opinion (totally without evidence, as suits the Zeitgeist), that you get served this sort of low-rent ad when you’ve been successful in keeping useful targetting information from the algorithm. Do you get women's fast fashion, too?

I think you're right. I have no Youtube/Google account and actively resist data collection generally. This means the Youtube algorithm probably has only the VPN provided IP address and current session history on which to base any recommendations. This can produce odd results at the start of a session but recommendations tend towards similar subjects as the session goes on.

" I have no Youtube/Google account and actively resist data collection generally. "

Unless you block javascript, all those silent trackers on the web sites you choose to visit provide the data feed for the ad brokers. I recently downloaded a professional security report and found that the download page included an obfuscated script bot called directly from Farcebook. As the page (actually unlawfully) demanded an email address to allow the download, it's quite possible that Farcebook now have my email address.

.....primitive "expert systems" were based on sets of programmatic rules. To a greater or lesser extent, the rules were written in pseudo-English, and could probably be understood by a non-expert.

That was then......now we have neural networks providing the "expertise".......and even the creators of these devices have NO INSIGHT AT ALL to the logic which the neural network uses:

(1) Train the neural network on millions of examples ("big data") of the sorts of things you want the thing to do -- this example is "good", that example is "bad" -- over and over

(2) Note that this good/bad classification is arbitrary and may not even be fact checked

(3) Test the "training" to see if the neural network responds "correctly" to inputs which it has not seen before

(4) Note that this testing uses a volume of data MUCH MUCH smaller than the training database

(5) Put the neural network into production

(6) Note that a neural network CANNOT REPORT ON THE INTERNAL LOGIC USED to come to any conclusion

(7) Worse......if the production system is learning as it goes, even the people running the system have no audit ability on what is "learned"

Quote: "...I should not only be able to interrogate how I got a horrifying video of a very bad case of pimples, I should be able to get in there and tune things...."

Dream on!!!! Even the owners/builders of neural networks cannot do that once the neural network is running!!

Isn't progress a wonderful thing.....at least according to the people pushing this technology!!!

trouble is, there is no one 'algorithm'. Or rather, the algorithms are such a cluster-fuck of algo-cut-and-paste-mix-and-shake-stolen-copied-misapplied-genius-crap-proprietary-algorithm compilation that nobody's able to make any sense of it. Which is pretty convenient ;)

Well yeah. Indeed.

Because of blue/green deployments and DevOps practices companies like Google can push out an experiment to a small number of people (only a few million) and see what keeps them engaged. They can do this many times per day, and the algorithm will get tweaked based on what's best (for Google, not what's best for you, duh!)

Therefore "the algorithm" could be substantially different at 9am, 12pm and 3pm even for the same person, and they could be running several different experiments simultaneously.

Cluster-fuck is the word.

My advice, stay off social media and try to avoid the recommended videos on YouTube if you can. It's designed to suck as much of your time as possible.

I'm fairly sure that there is exactly one algorithm: the adverts promoted to you are the ones from companies who paid the platform to spam their shit.

I'm in full agreement with the person who said that refusing permissions and hiding data leads to you getting random ads, though. It's hardly a shock - the opt outs on platforms like Facebook straight up say "this won't change the number of ads you see, they just may not be relevant to you". To which all I can say is: if you're willing to pay Facebook to have them show irrelevant ads to me, how desperate are you?

I will never do business with a company that spams me on social media. Even if I want what they're offering, I'll go elsewhere. More people need to make this plain, because they're not going to stop hassling us as long as someone sees their ad and goes "Ooo".

"That leaves me and other privacy conscious folk with just one lever to pull "

No it doesn't. You could just stop using it.

To clarify what some other commenters have said, with "AI", or machine learning, there isn't an algorithm. It really isn't a huge number of if/else statements. Even better, even the people that create/own/manage it have no idea why it does what it does, how it works, or indeed how changing something affects the outcomes.

That doesn't stop modifying the AI's output with things like 'anything Elon mutters is gold', of course.

Perhaps you could just decide for yourself what you might like to watch. There is a difficulty in knowing what is available but this is true of all big data repositories and is usually solved in some way by knowing what it is your interested in or just browsing. Kinda like libraries or book shops, although you do have to walk past the algorithmically chosen books on display at the front of the shop.

As for inappropriate pimple related suggestions; could I interest you in:

https://www.youtube.com/user/drsandralee

They seem little more than the following :

1) If you search for / post about thing x, we'll recommend other things that people who also searched for / posted about thing x were interested in, or things that link to thing x.

2) If you search for / post about thing x, we'll recommend other things that advertisers have paid to promote to people who are interested in thing x.

3) What Elon Musk wants promoting (mainly himself, feature exclusive to Twitter).

I've always thought that the reason these algorithms are such closely guarded secrets is not because they are so miraculously clever, but more because they are so embarrassingly simple. It's the sheer volume of linked data that makes them look impressive.

Since we're dealing with a pipedream where, even if the algorithm became visible, there's nothing ensuring anyone would have the slightest idea of what's going on, it's better to avoid YT.

Invidious lets you do that. Watch YT videos without being tracked, without being served insufferable ads and, depending on instance, download the video. All video recommendations will be based on whatever you're watching, never on your browsing history (since instances don't keep any). On android phones, you can use the NewPipe to the same effect.

I suppose the American Way would be to sue Youtube for the trauma you suffered.

Don't let YT (or anything else) give you recommendations. If I use YT I come to it via a specific search query.

Maybe I've misinterpreted you but you seem to be a bit upset about being shown pimples. Might I suggest that people suffering from skin conditions have as much right to be represented on the internet and share their experiences of their 'own story' as you put it without framing that experience as 'marginal or unimportant' or to suggest that they are so unpleasant that you should be protected from them. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you can demand the right to be shielded from it.

I don't like the mass surveillance any more than most people in the know, and whilst I don't really use any social media, I do spend time on YouTube and find it quite good at matching what I'm interested in viewing. At least where it works in my favour I'm happy to tolerate the intrusion, perhaps you should try not interfering with it and it might work better at helping you avoid 'unpleasant skin conditions'.

Idiots like you are why this shit happens.

I have another solution : don't use it.

Instead, there is the old-school method. It's called bookmarks. In my browser bar, I have a Youtube folder. All the channels I follow are in that folder. At the bottom of the bookmark bar folder, there is an option "Open All in Tabs" (at least, there is in any proper browser). So, when I feel like exploring my channels, all I have to do is go to my bookmark folder, open everything I have chosen, and wait for the refresh (on a 1Gbps fiber line, it's okay).

YouTube recommendations ? I don't need stinkin' YouTube recommendations. If one of the hosts on a channel I follow recommend that I go look at another channel, then I go check it out.

Bah, humbug.