“Nutritious and Delicious.” Inside YouTube’s Early, Failed Attempt To Recommend Videos That Are Good For You, And Enjoyable Too.

Well before the social media backlash, YouTube tried to recommend videos based on quality, not just engagement. It didn't work.

Hi Everyone, my aim at Big Technology is to cover the machine, not just the outputs. To learn why Big Tech acts the way it does, we must understand its systems, not only what they produce. That’s why I’m excited this week to publish a story that reveals YouTube’s long-running struggle to tune its optimization algorithm. The story below is adapted from M…