Recommendation systems in social media platforms

The recommendation system has been regarded as one of the most prominent applications of information technology in recent years. In general, a recommendation system is able to predict the interests of users and makes information searching easier based on the huge volume of data. Though a well-established recommendation system utilizes many different technologies, there are two types of recommendation systems: content-based systems and collaborative filtering systems. The former relies on the content of the data while the latter examines the preferences of similar users to generate suggestions. Almost all of the social media apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc., have implemented such systems to increase user interactions.

Recommendation systems in social media platforms

Certain traits of the social media platforms made a successful recommendation for them different from those applied in movies or shopping platforms. According to the paper "Social recommendation model based on user interaction in complex social networks", the authors imply that "most of the content recommendation processes in social platforms introduce content types that are created and shared by the users themselves, gather the feedback information of other users through the articulated relationships in complex networks, and implicitly infer the user preferences and content popularity." Such systems also utilize "the rating information of other users in social networks to find neighbors who have similar tastes to the target user and then recommend items to them." And one of the reasons that social media relies more on collaborative filtering techniques is that they can alleviate some of the shortcomings of content-based recommendations when obtaining item-level content information is challenging.

Criticism of the recommendation system on social media platforms

Instagram and young adult depression

In recent years, social media has faced increasing scrutiny from the public and regulators due to those platforms' implicit ethical issues. Many believe social media companies are misusing or abusing their technologies in order to make more profit from advertisers. Since the recommendation system is often used by social media platforms to increase user interaction time, the algorithms also indirectly contribute to the severity of mental health issues. Researchers from KU Leuven found that the increases in Instagram browsing time and posting frequency are "related to adolescents’ depressed mood".

Internal researchers at Instagram, now acquired by Facebook, were also aware of this issue despite the company's refusal to admit it in public. In May 2021, Instagram head Adam Mosseri told reporters that research he had seen suggests the app’s effects on teen well-being are likely "quite small." But the documents leaked from its internal research findings suggest that the company is well aware of the tremendous negative impacts brought by its algorithms. The slides for the internal meeting suggest that "one in five teens say Instagram makes them feel worse about themselves, and teens who struggle with mental health issues say Instagram makes them feel worse." "Inappropriate advertisements targeted at vulnerable groups" were among the top reasons that Instagram negatively affects mental health. Instagram's algorithms and recommendation system are alleged to have amplified teenagers' social pressures, especially on physical appearance. For example, a Wall Street Journal report documents an interview with a teenager, Lindsay Dubin, 19, who recently wanted to exercise more. "She searched Instagram for workouts and found some she liked. Since then, the app’s algorithm has filled her Explore page with photos of how to lose weight, the "ideal" body type, and what she should and shouldn’t be eating. "I’m pounded with it every time I go on Instagram," she said." In a subsequent experiment, Lindsay found that 14 ads focused on physical appearances appeared in two-minute browsing of the Instagram stories, a feature in Instagram that let users view short videos posted by their friends with along with advertisements displayed based on the users' interests.

Facebook Cambridge Analytica data scandal

The parent company of Instagram, Facebook itself, has faced more serious backlashes for its algorithms embedded in the app since 2016. In the 2010s, Facebook cooperated with Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting business, to conduct political advertising gatherings. It was reported that Cambridge Analytica had made use of the information of 50 million Facebook users without their consent.