HTo find out how Facebook and Instagram's algorithms influence what appears in your news feed, Guardian Australia tested them on a completely blank smartphone linked to an unused email address.
Three months later, without any input, it was full of sexist and misogynistic content.
The John Doe profile was created in April as a typical 24-year-old male. Facebook was able to collect other information about us, such as our phone type and Melbourne location, but because we had opted out of ad tracking, Facebook couldn't know what we did outside the app.
Facebook left me with little to fall back on, with no likes, comments or accounts added as friends, while Instagram requires users to first follow at least five accounts, so I chose popular suggested accounts, such as the Prime Minister and Bec Judd.
Meta says its algorithm ranks content according to people's interests, but we wanted to see what happens in the absence of such input. We scrolled through our feed every two weeks to see what was on offer.
What did we see?
Initially, Facebook showed jokes about The Office and other sitcom-related memes alongside posts from 7 News, the Daily Mail and Ladbible. The next day, it also started showing Star Wars memes and gym and “dudebro” style content.
By the third day, “traditional Catholic” type memes started appearing and the feed veered towards more sexist content.
Three months later, memes from The Office, Star Wars, and The Boys are still appearing in the feed, now interspersed with extremely sexist and misogynistic imagery that appears in the feed with no input from the user.
On Instagram, the explore page is filled with women in skimpy outfits, but the feed is largely innocuous, mostly Melbourne-related content and foodie influencer recommendations.
Source: www.theguardian.com
