Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Instagram has shared new details on how its app uses machine learning to surface content for users, stressing that, when making recommendations, it focuses on finding accounts it thinks people will enjoy, rather than individual posts.
The blog post is technical in nature and contains no big surprises, but it offers an interesting behind-the-scenes perspective at a time when algorithmic recommendation systems are under scrutiny for pushing users toward dangerous, hateful, and extremist content.
While Instagram has not been criticized with the same ferocity as YouTube (dubbed “the Great Radicalizer” by The New York Times), it certainly has its share of problems. Hateful content and…