Social Media Promotes Misogynistic Content: Meta Declined to Comment

An experiment conducted by Australian journalists revealed a dangerous bias in Meta's algorithm. Here's everything you need to know.

In recent years, social media has been embroiled in controversies regarding the type of content they allow. From Donald Trump's controversial presidential campaign to the hoaxes spread during the COVID-19 pandemic, these platforms have demonstrated the problems caused by a lack of oversight. But on this occasion, it is Meta's own algorithm that has been called into question.

A group of journalists from Guardian Australia investigated how Facebook and Instagram's algorithms work, specifically how they promote discrimination against women.

According to the article they published, algorithms offer men content that stereotypes women and fosters resentment and prejudice against them. The journalists demonstrated that this content is shown to users without any prior search activity.

To obtain information impartially, they opened new accounts on Facebook and Instagram using new phone numbers and specially created email accounts. They also set the devices not to track their activity when using these apps, giving access only to their location and type of mobile. These profiles were "saved" for three months, during which the journalists remained completely inactive. When they logged in after this period, they were surprised by what they found: the content suggested to them by the social networks was intended to stereotype women, even after just a few days of use.

As Guardian Australia reported in its findings, Meta declined to comment on the matter. However, Meta stated in its submission to the federal parliament's social media inquiry that users receive recommendations based on their interests: "Our ranking system personalises the content for over a billion people and aims to show each of them content we hope is most valuable and meaningful, every time they come to Facebook or Instagram."

Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to Meta, as similar studies have come to the same conclusion with YouTube and TikTok. This problematic content can cause resentment towards women, especially in teenagers and young adults.