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When you visit a website, you may think you’re getting the same content as everyone else. But almost anywhere you go online, algorithms keep track of what you like to click on. These algorithms give you content based on what they think you like, and they will continue to do so until they’re mainly showing you content you’ll likely consume. This process can lead to the creation of a filter bubble.

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An echo chamber is an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. Echo chambers can create misinformation and distort a person’s perspective so they have difficulty considering opposing viewpoints and discussing complicated topics. They’re fueled in part by confirmation bias, which is the tendency to favor info that reinforces existing beliefs.

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Inspiring divergent thinking in the classroom

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Inspiring divergent thinking in the classroom

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Cartoon to understand echo chambers and filter bubbles

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Cartoon to understand echo chambers and filter bubbles

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An algorithm is a set of instructions that a computer program follows to perform a specific task. There are different types of algorithms, but on social media, the list of instructions decides what content to show to users. Algorithms do this by learning from users' interaction with other content, such as through likes, comments and shares.

Social media uses algorithms to keep users engaged on their platform by providing relevant and interesting posts. This is similar to how websites collect cookies to show users advertisements relevant to them.

What is an echo chamber?

An echo chamber is a situation where people only see information that supports their current beliefs and opinions.

Social media echo chambers work by 'hiding' content that is irrelevant based on the algorithm. This is content that users swipe past, don't interact with or block on their feed.

However, the content users don't see may help create a balanced view of the world. So, not seeing this content may create confirmation bias where content users see confirms their beliefs with giving different points of view.

How do algorithms create echo chambers?

Algorithms create echo chambers through showing users content similar to that which they already engage with. If that content is hateful, the suggestions will also show hateful content. For example, many users who follow Andrew Tate find themselves surrounded by similar content that spreads misogyny and online hate against women and girls.

Computers and algorithms cannot assess the information they suggest. As such, an algorithm cannot make the choice to show users balanced views or facts. The echo chambers then instead show users that 'everyone' believes the same as them.

However, these users are only able to see content from those with similar views. Therefore, it is up to the individual to think critically about what they see and interact with.

What are the risks of echo chambers for children and young people?

Online echo chambers may lead some users to becoming more extreme in their views because they don't experience opposing views. This can lead to exposure to harmful content, conspiracy theories and radicalisation.

Children are also at greater risk for believing misinformation or being manipulated online. They may not yet have the critical thinking or digital literacy skills needed to be a discerning consumer of content because of their stage of brain development.* As such, they are more likely to believe extreme or controversial ideas.

Additionally, exposure to online hate like racism and misogyny or other harmful world views can take its toll on children's wellbeing and growth. Seeing content that is inappropriate, violent or hateful on a regular basis can lead to desensitisation. As a result, they might not be aware that the content they see is harmful and are therefore unable to know when it's right to take action.

Children and young people using social media may not yet understand how algorithms work. So, it's important to help them learn how to manage content suggestions to take action themselves.

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What are algorithms? How to prevent echo chambers | Internet Matters

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Algorithms are an important part of social media feeds, but they can create echo chambers. There are things that you can do though to prevent echo chambers.

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1. Be aware of confirmation bias. The first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one. What steps are you taking to seek out and understand points of view that challenge your information bubble?

2. Ask for external, neutral opinions. Consider inviting an outsider onto your company’s board – someone less biased and steeped in “the way things are done here.” Obviously, you do need knowledgeable people to make strategic business decisions.

3. Appoint a devil’s advocate. When tasked with a project, it is natural to want to enlist the help of supporters. Yet, surrounding yourself with cheerleaders essentially creates a filter bubble or echo chamber for your idea. And to make the best possible decisions, you need to hear from detractors, too.

4. Form diverse teams. We each have our own biases and strongly held opinions as a result of the circles we move in. That is why it is so important to form diverse teams. Diversity helps balance out everyone’s different biases, ensuring a marketplace of ideas.

5. Perform pre- and post-mortem analyses. Finally, if you do all the above and everything still goes wrong, what then? Time to perform a pre-mortem – a forward-looking process to identify vulnerabilities before you embark on your next effort.

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Parent information, but can be used for teachers understanding.

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Parent information, but can be used for teachers understanding.

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Lesson Plan for teaching students to identify echo chambers

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Lesson Plan for teaching students to identify echo chambers

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Downloadable Lesson Documents

Key Vocabulary

1. Echo chamber - an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own

2. Algorithm - set of rules used to rank, filter and organize the content for users within certain social media platforms.

3. Confirmation Bias - the tendency to seek out or give greater weight to information that supports our pre-existing beliefs and expectations.

Before You Watch

Why is it often important to listen to more than one side of an issue?

While You Watch

Preview the questions. Then answer them while you watch the MediaWise Teen-Fact Checking Network (TFCN) video. According to the video...

1. The main goals of social media algorithms are to keep you _______________ so you stay on the platform for as long as possible, _______________ with the content by sharing or commenting and come _______________ to it later.

2. What are the positive aspects of social media echo chambers?

3. What are some negative aspects of echo chambers that can lead to bad consequences?

4. How can you avoid echo chambers on social media?

Follow left and right-leaning information sources to _____________ your news sources.

_______________ interacting with controversial posts-the algorithm will stop feeding them to you

_______________ political, scientific or conspiratorial posts

_______________ everything to confuse the algorithm

After You Watch

Watch this teen CBC reporter explain how algorithms work . Use the words provided to fill in the blanks on the " Student Handout".

Coming Up Next

Be MediaWise Lesson 7: Evaluating a scientific claim-Students will learn how to combat online science misinformation using lateral reading by investigating a post about an NFL football player's collapse on the field.

Standards

Common Core ELA CC.8.5.6-8; CC.8.5.9-10.A; CC.8.5.11-12.A
Citing informational text.

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) D3.1.6-12

Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.

ISTE 6-12.1.4.a
Students: know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

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Be MediaWise lesson 6: How social media algorithms create echo chambers

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Learn how algorithms work and how they can create echo chambers

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Video to use on its own about echo chambers

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Video to use on its own about echo chambers

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How to get out of your news echo chamber | Is This Legit?

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From “Filter Bubbles”, “Echo Chambers”, and “Rabbit Holes” to “Feedback Loops”

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Research should focus on feedback loops between three variables: what is engaged with, what is shown, and what is thought by users.

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LONDON (AP) - Starting Friday, Europeans will see their online life change.

People in the 27-nation European Union can alter some of what shows up when they search, scroll and share on the biggest social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and other tech giants like Google and Amazon.
READ MORE: European Union hits Facebook parent Meta with record $1.3 billion privacy fine
That's because Big Tech companies, most headquartered in the U.S., are now subject to a pioneering new set of EU digital regulations. The Digital Services Act aims to protect European users when it comes to privacy, transparency and removal of harmful or illegal content.

Here are five things that will change when you sign on:

You can turn off AI-recommended videos

Automated recommendation systems decide, based on people's profiles, what they see in their feeds. Those can be switched off.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, said users can opt out of its artificial intelligence ranking and recommendation systems that determine which Instagram Reels, Facebook Stories and search results to show. Instead, people can choose to view content only from people they follow, starting with the newest posts.

Search results will be based only on the words they type, not personalized based on a user's previous activity and interests, Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said in a blog post.

On TikTok, instead of being shown videos based on what users previously viewed, the "For You" feed will serve up popular videos from their area and around the world.

Turning off recommender systems also means the video-sharing platform's "Following" and "Friends" feeds will show posts from accounts users follow in chronological order.

Those on Snapchat "can opt out of a personalised content experience."

Algorithmic recommendation systems based on user profiles have been blamed for creating so-called filter bubbles and pushing social media users to increasingly extreme posts. The European Commission wants users to have at least one other option for content recommendations that's not based on profiling.

It's easier to flag harmful content

Users should find it easier to report a post, video or comment that breaks the law or violates a platform's rules so that it can be reviewed and taken down if required.

TikTok has started giving users an "additional reporting option" for content, including advertising, that they believe is illegal. To pinpoint the problem, people can choose from categories such as hate speech and harassment, suicide and self-harm, misinformation or frauds and scams.

The app by Chinese parent company ByteDance has added a new team of moderators and legal specialists to review videos flagged by users, alongside automated systems and existing moderation teams that already work to identify such material.

Facebook and Instagram's existing tools for reporting content are "easier for people to access," said Meta's Clegg, without providing more details.

You'll know why your post was taken down

The EU wants platforms to be more transparent about how they operate.

So, TikTok says European users will get more information "about a broader range of content moderation decisions."

"For example, if we decide a video is ineligible for recommendation because it contains unverified claims about an election that is still unfolding, we will let users know," TikTok said. "We will also share more detail about these decisions, including whether the action was taken by automated technology, and we will explain how both content creators and those who file a report can appeal a decision."

Google said it's "expanding the scope" of its transparency reports by giving more information about how it handles content moderation for more of its services, including Search, Maps, Shopping and Play Store, without providing more details.

You can report fake products

The DSA is not just about policing content. It's also aimed at stopping the flow of counterfeit Gucci handbags, pirated Nike sneakers and other dodgy goods.

Amazon says it has set up a new channel for reporting suspected illegal products and content and also is providing more publicly available information about third-party merchants.

The online retail giant said it invests "significantly in protecting our store from bad actors, illegal content and in creating a trustworthy shopping experience. We have built on this strong foundation for DSA compliance."

Online fashion marketplace Zalando is setting up flagging systems, though it downplays the threat posed by its highly curated collection of designer clothes, bags and shoes.

"Customers only see content produced or screened by Zalando," the German company said. "As a result, we have close to zero risk of illegal content and are therefore in a better position than many other companies when it comes to implementing the DSA changes."

Your kids won't be targeted with digital ads

Brussels wants to crack down on digital ads aimed at children over concerns about privacy and manipulation. Some platforms already started tightening up ahead of Friday's deadline, even beyond Europe.

TikTok said in July that it was restricting the types of data used to show ads to teens. Users who are 13 to 17 in the EU, plus Britain, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein no longer see ads "based on their activities on or off TikTok."

It's doing the same in the U.S. for 13- to 15-year-olds.

Snapchat is restricting personalized and targeted advertising to users under 18.

Meta in February stopped showing Facebook and Instagram users who are 13 to 17 ads based on their activity, such as following certain Instagram posts or Facebook pages. Now, age and location are the only data points advertisers can use to show ads to teens.

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Europe takes on Big Tech. This may mean changes for U.S. users

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People in the 27-nation European Union can alter some of what shows up when they search, scroll and share on the biggest social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and other tech giants like Google and Amazon.

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Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers & Spotting Fake News