
Algorithmic Amplification and Society
A project studying algorithmic amplification and distortion, and exploring ways to minimize harmful amplifying or distorting effects
Most online speech today is hosted on algorithmic platforms that are designed to optimize for engagement. But algorithms are not neutral. They amplify some speech and suppress others. Some effects are positive, such as the decreased power of gatekeepers in identifying new talent. Others exert a pervasive distorting effect on everything, whether the production and dissemination of science or the tourism industry.
Under the direction of the Knight Institute’s 2022-2023 Visiting Research Scientist Arvind Narayanan, the Institute will examine how algorithmic amplification and distortion shape specific domains, markets, or facets of society, and explore ways to modify algorithms or design in order to minimize harmful amplifying or distorting effects.
Through a series of blog posts, essays, and a major symposium—entitled “Optimizing for What? Algorithmic Amplification and Society,” to be held April 28-29, 2023, at Columbia University—this project seeks to identify gaps in existing understandings of algorithmic distortion, as well as uncover and explain the true principles that govern the movements of online speech.
Featured

Essays and Scholarship
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Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms
Towards a better informed debate on the effects of social media
By Arvind Narayanan
Deep Dive
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TikTok’s Secret Sauce
TikTok’s algorithm is ordinary. Its real innovation is something else.
By Arvind Narayanan -
How To Train Your TikTok
Simple ways to better navigate the platform’s ocean of video content
By Arvind Narayanan
Quick Take
Institute Update
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Call for Participation: Optimizing for What? Algorithmic Amplification and Society
The Knight Institute invites submissions for its spring symposium, April 27-28, 2023, at Columbia University
By Arvind Narayanan & Katy Glenn Bass