YouTube shows users happy videos if they start watching political content: Study
A new study claims YouTube’s algorithm is subtly guiding users away from political content and toward entertaining, joyful videos, especially in YouTube Shorts.
Researchers from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Centre for Information Technology Innovation analyzed over 685,000 videos to study how YouTube Shorts recommendations shift based on watch time and content sensitivity.
“When you start [watching] a political topic or specific political topics, YouTube is trying to push you away to more entertainment videos, more funny videos, especially in YouTube Shorts,” said Mert Can Cakmak, one of the study’s authors.
YouTube is pushing users towards funny videos if they watch politics
Published via Cornell University’s arXiv server, the study focused on politically sensitive topics like the South China Sea conflict and Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election. Using AI, they categorized video titles and transcripts by relevance, emotional tone, and topic.
The results showed a clear trend: “Our results reveal a consistent drift away from politically sensitive content toward entertainment-focused videos,” the study reads.
Three watch-time scenarios were tested: 3 seconds, 15 seconds, and full video completion. Across 50 successive recommendation hops, regardless of starting point or duration, political content gave way to entertainment.
As per Fast Company, the algorithm also favored videos with positive or neutral emotional tone. High-performing Shorts with more likes and views were disproportionately promoted, further amplifying “popularity bias.”
Cakmak believes the shift isn’t intentional censorship but a design focused on maximizing engagement and profits. After all, even for YouTube Premium Lite subscribers, Shorts aren’t exempt from advertisements.
“What YouTube is trying to do is remove you from that area or topic, and push you [to a happier] topic so that it can increase engagement [and] earn more money,” he said.
Similarly, a report published in July found that YouTube was making billions of dollars by showing ads on pirated versions of hit shows such as Squid Game.
The findings highlight how platform design shapes what users see, and what they don’t, even when they’re searching for news or politics.
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