Read on Twitter
Mini thread of about racist algorithms since one went viral on twitter today:
In case you missed it, twitter centers lighter skinned/white people in the thumbnails of images over dark skinned people. Here’s an example with the members of @runjewels
This is in no way new. This algorithm for instance is reminiscent of google’s racist search algorithm, discussed in @safiyanoble’s Algorithms of Oppression
Alongside this, zoom’s facial recognition failure for Black people is reminiscent of amazon’s algorithm you can imagine amazon is a repeat offender i.e. biased hiring algorithms, partnering with I€E) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2019/1/25/18197137/amazon-rekognition-facial-recognition-bias-race-gender
Most likely twitter’s algorithm is constantly learning and figuring out what pictures get the most engagement, and it indisputably favors white people, as well as whie animals and cartoon characters:
This is not only as mundane as who gets centered in an image, it becomes who gets hired, who gets an apartment, who gets a loan, which neighborhoods get policed more https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/17/1005396/predictive-policing-algorithms-racist-dismantled-machine-learning-bias-criminal-justice/amp/
Whom amongst formerly incarcerated folks are “at risk” for recidivism https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing
For a slew of other examples look no further than Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction
Algorithms consistently do this sort of thing not because of the nature of math, but because they are used/built by oppressors to automate what white supremacists have built for centuries. This is explored beautifully in @ruha9’s Race After Technology
This is a much larger rabbit hole than twitter, and I’m not the person to lead that discussion at all. Instead, I’m plugging an amazing lecture by @YESHICAN from @Data4BlackLives about so much more than could be covered in just this thread https://vimeo.com/375310799
Please feel free to quote/comment with other resources/educational tools!
