Mitigating Confirmation Bias Caused by Social Media Algorithms
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School of Business |
Bachelor's thesis
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Authors
Date
2023
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Tieto- ja palvelujohtaminen
Language
en
Pages
26
Series
Abstract
As social media becomes increasingly prevalent in everyday life and gains significance as an information source, the concern about its algorithms and their functions causing negative consequences arises. The human tendency to prefer congenial information, accentuated by algorithms curating the content a user sees on social media, could potentially lead to problems. Confirmation bias increasing because of algorithms on social media requires attention to understand and prevent incorrect reasoning in people’s cognitions. This thesis inspects possibilities to mitigate the confirmation bias that emerges and strengthens because of social media algorithms. The current and potential mitigation strategies are examined, and their limitations are discussed. To comprehend the effects of confirmation bias on social media, the previous research findings on the topic are reviewed. It is concluded that these issues should be addressed on several levels—individual, societal and techinal—to most effectively combat the negative consequences of confirmation bias on social media. The most efficient way to diminish confirmation bias includes individuals themselves being aware of it and trying to prevent it. This can be encouraged through the societal and technical levels. Significant challenges are encountered, particularly because of the ambiguity surrounding the black-boxed algorithms and the efficiency of debiasing strategies. Possibilities for future research and addressing these challenges are presented.Description
Thesis advisor
Ghanbari, HadiKeywords
confirmation bias, social media algorithms, mitigation, debiasing