Helping Users Tackle Algorithmic Threats on Social Media: A Multimedia Research Agenda

TL;DR

This paper surveys algorithmic threats on social media, proposing a research agenda and a prototype to develop transparent, multimedia-based solutions that empower users against privacy loss, misinformation, and filter bubbles.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of social media algorithmic threats, sets a research agenda for real-time user nudging, and introduces a conceptual prototype evaluated by experts.

Findings

Identified key algorithmic threats affecting social media users.

Proposed a research agenda for effective user nudging techniques.

Developed and evaluated a prototype for transparent multimedia content analysis.

Abstract

Participation on social media platforms has many benefits but also poses substantial threats. Users often face an unintended loss of privacy, are bombarded with mis-/disinformation, or are trapped in filter bubbles due to over-personalized content. These threats are further exacerbated by the rise of hidden AI-driven algorithms working behind the scenes to shape users' thoughts, attitudes, and behavior. We investigate how multimedia researchers can help tackle these problems to level the playing field for social media users. We perform a comprehensive survey of algorithmic threats on social media and use it as a lens to set a challenging but important research agenda for effective and real-time user nudging. We further implement a conceptual prototype and evaluate it with experts to supplement our research agenda. This paper calls for solutions that combat the algorithmic threats on social media by utilizing machine learning and multimedia content analysis techniques but in a transparent manner and for the benefit of the users.