 |
| Angela Merkel speaking at Medientage München |
Algorithms select all information according to the profile of each user. In this way, users always get what it is supposed they want. Public debate is quite never that smooth, so the democracy that lay on it would find weaker basis.
Public debate is rather made up of confrontations, conflicts and compromises. The “filter bubble” isolates culturally users in their own world and flattens opinions. This problem is actually nothing new. The risks of lack of variety and manipulation of information are very well known. Yet the problem is still actual and it always will be, as the social environment is always evolving.
The solution is to fill the lack of awareness of users and this is not an easy task to accomplish. Chancellor Merkel suggests to make “algorithms transparent”. Anyone must have a clear answer to the question
“what affects my and others behavior on the Internet?”The main reason is that
"algorithms, when are not transparent, can lead to a distortion of perception, can reduce the extent of our information".This is a great challenge for Internet companies, especially for the biggest ones such as Google and Facebook. This is a challenge of responsibility and independence in the name of the right of information.
Synthesis of Angela Merkel’s speech. In German, no subtitles available
