The Role of Algorithmic News Curation on Polarization and Radicalization

Prof. Dr. Judith Möller is a professor of Empirical Communication Research, especially Media Use and Social Media Effects at the University of Hamburg in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Media Research / Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). An expert in digital media and its effects on human behavior and society, her research focuses on algorithmically curated information environments and how users engage with the content they encounter online. An important aspect of her work explores the feasibility of using choice architectures in these digital contexts to aid users in making informed choices. In this presentation she talks about the effects of algorithmic news curation on polarization and radicalization, and the idea of a spiral of noise leading to the emergence of fringe bubbles.