TikTok’s highly active recommendation system is designed to keep users clicking on videos, even if they contain racist or homophobic content * Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast TikTok’s algorithm works in mysterious ways, but a Guardian Australia experiment on a blank account shows how quickly a breaking news event can funnel users down a conservative Christian, anti-immigration rabbit hole. Last week we reported how Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms are luring young men into the Manosphere. This week, we explore what happens when TikTok’s algorithm is unleashed on a blank account in the absence of any interactions such as liking or commenting. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...

Company says it has ‘never thought about news’ as a way to counter misleading content on Facebook and Instagram despite evidence to the contrary * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Meta has claimed news is not the antidote to misinformation and disinformation spreading on Facebook and Instagram, as the company continues to push back against being forced to pay media companies for news in Australia. Meta announced in March it would not enter into new agreements with media companies to pay for news following the end of contracts signed in 2021 under the Morrison government’s news media bargaining code. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...

The three brands licensed by Nine’s Pedestrian Group that kickstarted my career might be gone but as long as there’s appetite for video game content there’s hope In 2006 I was fired from my job at EB Games. It was, with the benefit of hindsight, a well-earned dismissal. One Sunday I’d set up a camera and filmed myself jumping over a stack of boxes and hip thrusting at a stranger. Then I uploaded that highly pixelated video of an emo-fringed teenager in a black shirt and slacks to YouTube. Ah, the innocence of youth. My area manager saw the video about eight months later. I was fired on the spot. (Today, of course, this would probably be some sort of TikTok trend.) Continue reading...