RightsCon is the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age. AccessNow started the conference with the intention to create a civil society-led space where all stakeholders – from tech companies to government representatives to human rights defenders – could come together to build a rights-respecting digital future.
At Tracking Exposed, we’ve been investigating influential algorithms and their impact on society since 2016. We joined the RightsCon community in 2017 for our first talk and this year we were excited to go back to give three talks on our work investigating the algorithms of TikTok, YouTube and Pornhub.
Tracking Exposed: a tool for TikTok algorithmic audits and cross-national comparisons
We kicked off with our first talk on TikTok and its growing, unaccountable role in geopolitics.
We demo’d our TikTok browser extension, which is is a free (and open) software that monitors TikTok’s recommendation algorithm behavior and personalization patterns. Part of our Mozilla Foundation-funded TikTok Observatory, our tool enables researchers and journalists to investigate which content is promoted or demoted on the platform, including content regarding politically sensitive issues.
Unveiling how porn platforms abuse personal data with Tracking Exposed and GDPR
Online pornography represents, according to many, one of the most widespread phenomenon of the whole internet. This industry alone generates billions of dollars in annual revenue, involving an ever growing number of people and occupying a very significant portion of the overall available bandwidth of the web. Given these premises, it comes with no surprise that porn-platforms have found an extremely profitable business in processing personal data of their users, often in ways yet to be fully disclosed and shared with the general public. However, the online pornography sector remains one of the most unregulated fields of the digital world even if it affects the sexual life of so many people everyday. This raises the question whether or not those in control of these incredibly powerful tools are still capable of acting responsibly without creating any harm.
Our free-software tools shine a light into the underlying mechanisms of one of the major porn-platforms existing nowadays, deconstructing its recommender system. Thanks to these tools we have achieved an unprecedented point of view over biases and data processing malpractices that may affect these websites, collecting precious evidence that have proven useful for carrying out academic research and even digital forensics investigations. Our goal is to empower users and help them reclaim their rights recognized by the GDPR and even more.
During this panel we presented our tools, Potrex and Guardoni, and the research we have conducted regarding the abuses spotted on a porn platform whose algorithms seem to be operating in a seriously biased way. We also explored signs of possible data protection law violations and together elaborate strategies and methodologies for the upcoming analysis of these platforms.
Rightcon attendees can watch it again: https://rightscon.summit.tc/t/2022/events/unveiling-how-porn-platforms-abuse-personal-data-with-tracking-exposed-and-gdpr-ZXqZ3S2fT96bhEVNBZpnk
During this panel we will present our tools, Potrex and Guardoni, and the research we have conducted regarding the abuses spotted on a porn platform whose algorithms seem to be operating in a seriously biased way. We will then explore signs of possible data protection law violations and together elaborate strategies and methodologies for the upcoming analysis of these platforms.
This is a live session - join us for a lively debate with our researchers about the role of algorithms in sexuality. If you can’t wait for this talk, you can also check out our recent paper on the Platformization of Gender, which gives more context on our recently published paper.
YouChoose.AI: break free from YouTube’s algorithm monopoly with adversarial interoperability
YouChoose.AI is a browser extension that enables users to choose alternative recommendation feeds directly on YouTube.com. This is a critical step towards digital sovereignty. We should be empowered to choose and customize their recommendation system. By gaining back agency over the content delivery infrastructure, we can gain control back over our informational diets.
The first alternative feed available on YouChoose is provided by the content creators themselves, who can select the recommendations on their own videos. This is a liberating change for content creators, who are currently at the mercy of YouTube’s algorithm to distribute their content.
YouTube benefits from its nearly monopolistic position on the video-sharing market to impose its recommendation algorithm. YouChoose challenges this de-facto algorithmic monopoly by making third-party alternatives interoperable with the platform.
Since the regulation does not currently impose interoperability, YouChoose plugs itself on top of YouTube in an adversarial way.
Join the #RightsCon conversation
We’re excited to connect with academics, journalists and everyone interested in algorithmic transparency and data rights at RightsCon, and beyond.
Find us on Twitter, and you can get in touch via email: info@tracking.exposed