Algorithmic Governance: Auditing Search & Recommendation Algorithms for Problematic Content
Tanu Mitra, University of Washington
Today, online social systems have become integral to our daily lives. Yet, these systems and the algorithms driving them surface problematic content, whether they be harmful misinformation or damaging conspiracy theories. Left unchecked, these problems can negatively impact our democracy. How do we systematically investigate algorithmic misinformation? How do we govern algorithmic systems to safeguard against problematic content? In this talk, I will present results of algorithmic audits for misinformation conducted on the search and recommendation algorithms driving two platforms: 1) YouTube, the most popular video search platform and 2) Amazon, world's leading e-commerce platform. I will end with ideas for how we can develop effective long-term algorithmic governance, the challenges in doing so and the new governance challenges and opportunities that are emerging with the recent advances in the field of large language models.
About the speaker:
Tanu Mitra is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, Information School, where she leads the Social Computing and ALgorithmic Experiences (SCALE) lab group. Her research focuses on studying and building large-scale social computing systems to understand and counter problematic information online. Her work employs a range of interdisciplinary methods from the fields of human computer interaction, data mining, machine learning, and natural language processing. Tanu's work has been supported by grants from the DoD, Social Science One, and other Foundations.
Dr. Mitra's work has been supported by grants from the NSF, NIH, DoD, Social Science One, and other Foundations. Her research has been recognized through multiple awards and honors, including an NSF-CRII, an early career ONR-YIP, Adamic-Glance Distinguished Young Researcher award and Virginia Tech College of Engineering Outstanding New Assistant Professor award, along with several best paper awards. Dr. Mitra received her PhD in Computer Science from Georgia Tech's School of Interactive Computing.
