How Amazon puts misinformation on your reading list | John Naughton

Algorithms routinely come up with recommendations' for anti-vax bestsellers' or juices that cure cancer

It's a truism that we live in a digital age". It would be more accurate to say that we live in an algorithmically curated era - that is, a period when many of our choices and perceptions are shaped by machine-learning algorithms that nudge us in directions favoured by those who employ the programmers who write the necessary code.

A good way of describing them would be as recommender engines. They monitor your digital trail and note what interests you - as evidenced by what you've browsed or purchased online. Amazon, for example, regularly offers me suggestions for items that are based on your browsing history". It also shows me a list of what people who purchased the item I'm considering also bought. YouTube's engine notes what kinds of videos I have watched - and logs how much of each I have watched before clicking onwards - and then presents on the right-hand side of the screen an endlessly-scrolling list of videos that might interest me based on what I've just watched.