Keywords
filter bubble
echo chamber
manipulation by information
Internet network
How to Cite
Abstract
The article is deals with the thorough theoretical consideration of the problem of the filter bubble, taking into account the positions of various scientists regarding it.
It is stated that, in the opinion of Е. Pariser and his followers, the existence of an information bubble represents a serious societal problem, the essence of which is that the recommendation algorithms of the Network, using all possible elements of personalization / identification of the user on the Internet, offer at his request only the information that is consistent with his past web searches, reflecting his interest, while ignoring and cutting out alternative information that may contradict his views.
In such a way, manipulation of information is carried out, and it loses its main quality – informativeness, at the same time losing the possibility of transformation into a knowledge system. This person does not know that he is in a filter bubble on the Web, and his awareness is limited to only the information which the Network opened to her, based on his past queries and activities on the Internet in general, and is unidirectional, intellectually isolating the user.
It is noted that, in our understanding, the filter bubble is an attempt by the algorithms that produce the rules for searching for information on the Web, based on the personalization of a person in it and his previous searches / actions, to turn whole streams of information into artificially created blocks / clips limited in scope and content, which distort the objective understanding of the information / situation, making it one-sided.
It is emphasized that the positive role of the filter bubble is visible in reducing the time it takes for a person to find interesting and important information on the Web. However, there are much more negative consequences of the existence of an information bubble, and one of them is a situation when a person is unable to understand that there may be various views on the same problem, different from his own, another is the polarization of society: its separation into private groups (with their own understanding of the situation), each of which considers himself the bearer of real knowledge and at the same time does not understand others.
It is noted that the phenomenon of the filter bubble caused a long lasting and still unfinished debate in science both about the existence of an information bubble and about the possibility of proving / disproving it empirically.
The validity of the scientists' opinion that, in addition to the filter bubble, there are no less effective critical filters in the human mind that limit his perception of reality, filtering the information he receives so that it is fully consistent with the views and convictions of a person is emphasized.
The conclusion is that the problem of the filter bubble is quite real, and silencing it, attempts to level or reduce its value can only worsen the situation, giving carte blanche to those who aspires to manipulate information on the Internet and society, hiding significant amounts of it that are important for a holistic understanding of various issues.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Yan Chaplak, Halyna Chuyko, Yaroslava Andrieieva