The social power of algorithms

“Here, we see the role of algorithms, as decision-making parts of code (see Beer, 2013, p. 65), as being analytic and decisive (for a discussion of the role of algorithms in data analytics, see Kitchin, 2014, pp. 100–112).”

“Algorithms, as the underlying technical architecture of platforms, become the standard by which content is sorted, information is matched, and traffic is allocated (Gillespie 2014; Beer 2017).”

“This competence-based approach indicated how algorithmic literacy could be integrated within a MIL design and curriculum, rather than seen as a separate literacy, following the familiarity principle that could bring adoption and implementation among teachers and educators [20].”

“…the existing discussion of folk theories and resistance behaviors to algorithms on various social media platforms, such as Facebook (Bucher, 2013, 2017; Rader & Gray, 2015), Instagram (Cotter, 2019), Spotify (Siles et al., 2020), Twitter, (DeVito et al., 2017), TikTok (Abidin, 2020; Lee et al.,…”

“In the last decade, much attention has been given to analyse and conceptualise the social power of algorithms (Amoore & Raley, 2017; Beer, 2009, 2017; Bucher, 2018; Cheney-Lippold, 2011; Gillespie, 2016).”

“The practices of transparency have no place in a social void (Beer 2017; Kemper and Kolkman 2018), nor are algorithms objects that are known through observation (Ziewitz 2017).”

“While algorithms do often operate silently and unnoticed, evident here were degrees of awareness, reflexivity, and knowledge about the social power of algorithms (Beer, 2017) and digital presence in general (Couldry et al., 2016).”

“Im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Studien, die die „social power of algorithms“ (Beer 2017) den Algorithmen selbst zuschreiben, legen Büchner und Dosdall den Fokus auf den organisatorischen Kontext, in den sie eingebettet sind: Es ist ihre Einbindung in organisatorische Entscheidungsprozesse, die…”

“We are led, by algorithms and our own preference for the like-minded, into echo chambers or ‘filter bubbles’ (Pariser cited in Beer, 2017), where we find only the news we expect and the political perspectives we already hold dear.”

“Such in fl uencers can provide a greater understanding of how data has impact for their employment and as part of a broader infrastructure with social and cultural implications (Beer 2017).”

“Algorithm decisions are seen as neutral and trustworthy, dismissing the social power of the technical systems (Beer, 2017).”

“Platforms ’ discourses on algorithms “ promote a certain rationality ” that is based on “ the virtues of calculation, competition, efficiency, objectivity and the need to be strategic ” (Beer, 2017, p. 9).”

“This can ultimately reproduce and reinforce socially divisive categories, causing ethical problems and harm (Beer, 2017; Boyd and Crawford, 2012; Bozdag, 2013; Chandler and Fuchs, 2019; Dutton and Kraemer, 1980; Eubanks, 2018; Noble, 2018; O ’ Neil, 2017; Tolan et al., 2019).”

“(Beer, 2017).”

“On the operational level, calculation-based connectivity makes person-bound potentials such as experience-based intuition, moment-dependent perceptual ability, or case-based application knowledge super fl uous (Beer 2017).”

“This feature implies that we don ’ t “ see ” algorithms as lines of code, but only encounter them indirectly as they integrate into daily routines (Beer, 2017).”

“The field of Critical Algorithm Studies has been occupied with exploring the role algorithms and automation have on our everyday lives (Anderson, 2011; Beer, 2009, 2017; Gillespie, 2016).”

“Data’s Power to Create Social Realities Those who design data systems have the power to create their own social realities [92,98].”

“Social media and their opaque proprietary algorithms have, furthermore, the propensity to regulate how information circulates and who gets to see what (Beer, 2017).”

“Similarly, other researchers have advocated the study of those algorithms that semi-autonomously exert power without supervision from human counterparts [3, 32].”

“…also becomes a euphemism for the intensification of data extraction and analysis for accelerated forms of governance over the production process (Beer 2017b), such as through analytical processes that can track and predict consumer behavior and associated consumer patterns that directly…”

“This, in turn, enabled the platforms to make personalized recommendations on courses and nudge interest via push notifications (Beer 2017).”

“Firstly, seemingly objective predictions using big data have been shown to perpetuate social inequality in the form of data-driven insights and recommendations (Beer, 2017; Crawford & Paglen, 2019).”

“This resonates with prior research on power asymmetries between different stakeholders in relation to algorithmic systems (Beer, 2017).”

“User perceptions of search algorithms can change their interactions with them (Beer, 2017).”

“In the context of digital media platforms, this is seen in the interlinkage of algorithms and the rise of ‘trending’ hashtags or dissemination of violent content, where the promotion of certain content over others (Gillespie, 2014) also shapes our social reality (e.g. Beer, 2017).”

“Algorithmic biases are unwanted behaviors of algorithms that embed the hidden values of humans (Beer, 2017).”

“Beer emphasizes that algorithms are able to influence and convince people, and describes how they became widely trusted for their precision and objectivity [3].”

“As this nascent body of research into data analytics industries continues (Beer, 2017b), it is important to further understand the role location data will play in mediating the economic relationships between users, platforms, and analytics industries into ecologies of location (Wilken, 2015).”

“Consequently, this increasing use of digital platforms and their recommendation systems has led the scientific community to focus on the impact of algorithmic decisions on users’ behavior [2, 13, 14, 15, 16].”

“through surveillance, online interaction, and so on [33, 37].”

“Unanticipated machine learning dynamics, whose unfolding is often much more difficult to fathom, can also play a critical role here (Beer, 2017).”

“It is claimed that if additional data cannot be extracted from society then they can be algorithmically generated, adding a further dimension to the social power of algorithms (Beer, 2017; Bucher, 2018).”

“Die Diskussion um den Einfluss von Algorithmen auf die Strukturierung sozialer Beziehungen und der Filterung der gesellschaftlichen Welt zeigen, dass der immer weitgehendere Einbau solcher Systeme in die Gesellschaft dieser mitunter unheimlich erscheint (Beer 2017).”

“As we have shown, in addition to investigating the design of algorithms (that has been extensively studied in the literature, see [18, 43], researching and understanding algorithmic pollution requires empirical examination of interrelated sociomaterial practices of two key aspects: algorithm…”

“Algorithmic recommender systems are closely intertwined with commercial interests (Beer, 2017), reflect dominant social categories (Benjamin, 2019; Bucher, 2018; Noble, 2018), and can shape how users construct reality (Just & Lat-zer, 2017).”

“As such, the power of algorithms and how to deal with these entities has become a major point of discussion (Ziewitz, 2016; Beer, 2017) — even creating its own fi eld of critical algorithm studies (e.g., Gillespie, 2014; Seaver, 2018).”

“…Gillespie and Seaver 2016; Kitchin 2017; Bucher 2018), the rationality they internalize (Lowrie 2017), the cultural and social power they embody (Striphas 2015; Dourish 2016; Beer 2017), and the normativities (Lee and Björklund Larsen 2019) and automation anxieties (Goffey 2019) they instate.”

“None-theless, different definitions generally revolve around the concept of algorithmic bias, which occurs when algorithms reflect the implicit values of those involved in coding, programming, and training (Beer, 2017).”

“Thus, algorithmic systems are highly integrated into the social fabric as they evaluate, sort, rank, recommend, decide on their own, and exercise power (Beer, 2017; Davis, 2023; Lupton, 2016).”

“…they have the potential to reduce overreliance by focusing on informative explanations rather than convincing ones, they may some-times inadvertently increase overreliance, for example, due to inflating users’ confidence in the AI, confirmation bias, or the illusion of explanatory depth [11, 70].”

“Training datasets play a vital role in determining what SDCs can see and how they behave , even more so than the algorithms that govern the vehicle’s behavior in real time (see Beer 2017 on the social power of algorithms).”

“Beer (2017) indicated that the concept of algorithms can play a powerful role in shaping decisions and influencing behavior, thereby constituting social power and discursive status.”

“Hence, Beer (2017) argues that algorithms should not be viewed as a separate object existing outside a social context, but rather as a product of diverse social forces.”

“For example, the Information Technology Industry (ITI) Council (2017), a lobbying group for Amazon, Facebook, and Google, warned lawmakers to “ keep their hands off their algorithms ” (De Vynck and Brody, 2017).”

“As (Beer, 2017) attests, when thinking about the power of an algorithm, we need to think beyond the impact and consequences of the code, to the powerful ways in which notions and ideas about the algorithm circulate throughout the social world.”

“Algorithms are depicted as neutral, efficient, objective, and trustworthy (Beer, 2017) and the data they produced as correspondingly value-free or objective.”

“The generation of data sources through routine technological use – a process van Dijck (2014) refers to as ‘ data fi cation ’ – has in turn led to new questions of how data and technology are implicated with politics and power (Beer, 2017; Pasquale, 2015).”

“This requires studying how algorithms are part of broader rationalities, programmes of social change and development, and part of power dynamics (Beer, 2017: 9).”

“…and evaluation; for how they govern, control, and sort people; for disproportionately representing and ‘visibilizing’ groups and whole populations; for (re-)producing social inequalities; and, ultimately, for contributing to a ‘neoliberal agenda’ (O’Neil, 2016; Neyland & Möllers, 2017; Beer, 2017).”

“In other words, "Fairness" is associated with algorithmic bias and occurs when it reflects implicit human values involved in programming, coding, to learn algorithms [27].”

“Therefore, a theoretical approach driven by a “semio-ethic” perspective (Petrilli, 2016, 2017) might facilitate better analysis and design of algorithmic recommendation systems.”

“This is a conceptual de fi ciency as policing algorithms that fall under the same conceptual umbrella (e.g. facial recognition systems, predictive policing systems) can have di ff erent e ff ects in practice due to their technical designs and applications (Beer 2017, Kitchin 2017).”

“Algorithms have been important through history (Beer, 2016; Chabert, 1999; Schrijver, 2005).”