Bursting the Filter Bubble Concept

Credit: Richard Beech, Science Photo Library

I first heard the term, ‘filter bubble,’ during my freshman year of college. My friend texted me a YouTube link to the TED Talk, “Beware Online ‘Filter Bubbles’” by tech entrepreneur and Internet activist Eli Pariser, after watching the video in her mass communication course. While Pariser’s video intrigued my friend, I found the concept of filter bubbles unsettling.

It terrified me when Pariser explained that algorithmic content personalization and recommendations prevent Internet users from consuming diverse information online. He argued that without the consumption of different online content, users cannot challenge or broaden their worldview. In Pariser’s opinion, this issue emphasizes that the Internet undermines democracy because digital technology increases political and social polarization among users online.

After watching Pariser’s video, I began mentioning the concept, when relevant, during classroom discussions as a mass communication undergraduate and graduate student. I noticed my classmates also brought up filter bubbles or the term, ‘digital echo chambers,’ in class to support their claims that algorithms cause Internet users to engage in preferential content and interact with like-minded users, reinforcing their existing political and social perspectives. It was not until recently, however, that I realized Internet users are not trapped in filter bubbles. Instead, filter bubble theorists are trapped in the belief that the concept exists.

I became free of the filter bubble concept after reading media scholar Axel Bruns’s academic paper, “Filter Bubble” and skimming his book, “Are Filter Bubbles Real?” My jaw dropped when he explained how filter bubbles are unrealistic. For instance, Bruns asserted that many studies show previous searches and geographical locations on search engine platforms, such as Google, do not influence search results. He also posited that social media users are exposed to different political content and viewpoints on social issues, which floored me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFvBNlkPRO0

"Are Filter Bubbles Real?" Book Talk by Axel Bruns, Ph.D.

For instance, research reveals that most Internet users consume a variety of political news on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (see Figure 1). This content includes the personal opinions of journalists, digital news coverage and other messaging that do not align with the party affiliations of these Internet users.

Studies also reveal that most Internet users do not go online to seek political information. Instead, people use the Internet for entertainment and fun, social interactions. Most Internet users who are exposed to political information online unintentionally consume the content. If the filter bubble concept was applied to this empirical evidence, then that would mean algorithms cause Internet users to mostly view frivolous information.

Source: 2017 Reuters Institute Digital News Report

Figure 1. Maroon and Teal represent social media users who consume left and right-wing content online incidentally or while seeking news. Black, which represents the percentage of people who do not use social media at all, but consume left and right-wing news elsewhere, is significant but not relevant in this context.

If entertainment and unserious interactions online obviously do not contribute to political and social polarization, then how does this phenomenon exist? Why are there trending Twitter wars about opposing political views? Why do some family members and friends block each other on Facebook during presidential election season? Why does the comment section transform into trench warfare on Instagram when a personal account, celebrity or brand posts about controversial topics, such as the Charlie Hebdo attacks, on their feeds?

The correct response is not filter bubbles but rather, what Bruns calls, ‘the filters in our heads.’ This mental filter comprises cognitive beliefs and attitudes that most people refuse to change when they become exposed to in-person or online information that counters their perspectives on political and social topics.

Unfortunately, most politicians, media scholars and tech giants are so focused on creating a solution to the non-existent filter bubble concept that they are not finding answers to the question they should be asking themselves: How do we stop the filters in our heads from causing the global phenomenon of political and social polarization? Once experts focus on this question, the real work toward decreasing this phenomenon can begin.