Mozilla Foundation moz://a

[RTH10260]

from a recent newsletter

Stop recommending that video

Hey there,

If you’re anything like the team at Mozilla, you probably spend a lot of time on YouTube. We’re big fans of the things YouTube has to offer — from DIY videos to meditation tracks to old movie trailers. But many of us have also had the not-so-good experience of clicking on one wrong video and getting sucked into a spiral of terrible YouTube recommendations that follow us around for weeks on end.

That’s why we built a tool to help you take back control of your YouTube recommendations. Our updated release of the RegretsReporter browser extension gives you a simple way to tell YouTube’s algorithm to stop recommending certain videos.

Download for Firefox

Download for Chrome

After you install RegretsReporter, you can also choose to join our crowdsourced research project, investigating what videos people don’t want to be recommended and how YouTube's algorithm responds to that feedback.

Earlier this year, RegretsReporter data contributed by 37,380 people powered the largest-ever crowdsourced investigation into harmful recommendations on YouTube. Our investigation was covered by more than 170 news outlets across 30 countries and — thanks to the effort of people who contributed data — YouTube made changes to its policies1 and released more information2 to the public about how it works.

We do this work because we believe that people like you should be in control of online algorithms, rather than algorithms having power over us. If you’re with us on this, please download RegretsReporter and donate data to support our research today.

Learn More

Thanks,
Brandi and the team at Mozilla

[Reality Check]

I might try that. YouTube keeps trying to shove Forbes bullshit videos at me. I have even looked for a way to tell them I do not want to see anything from Forbes ever again.

[John Thomas8]

I might try that. YouTube keeps trying to shove Forbes bullshit videos at me. I have even looked for a way to tell them I do not want to see anything from Forbes ever again.

Ugh, I by accident clicked on a glenn cerio video, can't shake that mutt outta my recommendations for any reason.

[Reality Check]

The problem for me is I usually watch YT videos randomly using an app on my TV or tablet. I only open them on my PC if they are linked from some other article or post.

[northland10]

I try to remember to go and clean up my YouTube History from time to time (History is on the menu at the left). Since my devices are all signed on to my main Gmail account, the history is shared. I will usually go in and get rid of those one-off videos (or stuff I watched from here but don't want suggestions for in YouTube). It generally works and, at least today, the suggestions are what I expect.

You can always go the whole hog and delete the wh0ole history and get completely unrelated suggestions.

[Foggy]

Yeah, I erase my YT history regularly, takes about 5 clicks, no big. Make sure to erase search history AND watch history. But YT still knows what I watch, so its home page offers stuff they think I'd like to see.

[RTH10260]

from a fresh email newsletter by MOzilla

Hello,

Meta has announced it will be abandoning CrowdTangle, its industry leading transparency tool, this August - in the middle of the biggest election year on record.1

CrowdTangle is used by thousands of researchers, journalists and advocates to monitor political disinformation and hate speech on Facebook and Instagram. Its dashboards have allowed these watchdogs to monitor and analyze the spread of viral public content in real time. And this, in turn, allowed them to quickly identify harmful trends and abuse.

The decision to kill this crucial tool without an equivalent replacement couldn’t come at a worse time: Elections affecting approximately half of the world’s population are taking place this year. Meta’s irresponsible decision poses a direct threat to our movement’s ability to safeguard the integrity of these elections - but we can still stop it.

Together with 176 other organizations, researchers and journalists, Mozilla is calling on Meta to rethink the decision.2And Meta’s already feeling the pressure: Their spokesperson issued a defensive rebuke after seeing our collective call featured in the press.3

If we come together to ramp up the pressure now, we can push Meta to rethink their plans, maintain CrowdTangle during this election year and protect election integrity. Will you join the campaign?

Add your name to our petition calling on Meta to maintain CrowdTangle until 2025 and ensure election transparency and integrity during this critical year.

Sign now →

For years, CrowdTangle has been experts’ go-to tool for real-time platform transparency. It has become a lifeline for understanding how disinformation, hate speech and voter-suppression content have spread on Facebook.4 It’s also been used by researchers and human rights groups to study how tech platforms influence war crimes, human rights violations, public health crises, and natural disasters.

Meta wants to replace CrowdTangle with new tools – but currently, these tools don’t provide the transparency, insights and search capabilities offered by CrowdTangle and, most importantly, currently only a small number of researchers have access to it.5

Meta’s new research tools might eventually become an effective replacement for CrowdTangle, but in this crucial election year it’s not yet fit for purpose as a tool to monitor elections.

That is why 176 signatories of our open letter – including a Nobel prize laureate, former Meta employees and CrowdTangle’s co-founder Brandon Silverman – are asking Meta to:

Keep CrowdTangle functioning until January 2025.

Rapidly onboard all current CrowdTangle users that are focused on election integrity to their new tool (Content Library), including civil society organizations, researchers and news outlets - directly or through an accelerated application process.

Engage in regular consultations with the global Crowdtangle community to ensure that the Content Library meets their needs, including maintaining full Crowdtangle functionality, before the tool is deprecated.

As soon as possible, both the Content Library and CrowdTangle should add data about any election-related labels that are attached to public content by Meta, especially fact-checking and voter-interference.

What we need right now are effective tools to track content during these global election periods, and to protect people before, during, and immediately following elections. Together, we can push Meta to keep CrowdTangle running and ensure election integrity. Will you join the campaign?

Tell Meta to maintain CrowdTangle during this critical period of global elections and protect election integrity.

Sign the petition →

Thank you for all you do for the internet, and to protect elections around the world.

Claire Pershan
EU Advocacy Lead
Mozilla

TELL META: Don't Kill Your Crucial Transparency Tool, CrowdTangle!

Meta has announced it will be abandoning CrowdTangle, its industry leading transparency tool, this August - in the middle of the biggest election year on record.

CrowdTangle is used by thousands of researchers, journalists and advocates to monitor political disinformation and hate speech on Facebook and Instagram.

The decision to kill this crucial tool without an equivalent replacement couldn’t come at a worse time: Elections affecting approximately half of the world’s population are taking place this year. Meta’s irresponsible decision poses a direct threat to our ability to safeguard the integrity of these elections - but we can still stop it.

Sign the petition now to call on Meta to maintain CrowdTangle during this critical period of elections worldwide to protect election integrity in 2024 and beyond!

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campa ... -petition/