Algospeak

Last updated

Algospeak is the use of coded expressions to evade automated moderation algorithms on social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. It is used to discuss topics deemed sensitive to moderation algorithms while avoiding penalties such as shadow banning or downranking of content. It is a type of internet slang [1] and a form of linguistic self-censorship. [2] [3]

Contents

The term algospeak is a blend of Algorithm and -speak; [4] it is also known as slang replacement or Voldemorting, [3] referencing the fictional character known as "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named". [5] Algospeak is different from other types of netspeak in that its primary purpose is to avoid moderation, rather than to create a communal identity, though it may still be used for such end. [1]

Causes and motivations

Many social media platforms relies on automated content moderation systems to enforce their guidelines, which are often not determined by users themselves. [2] TikTok in particular uses artificial intelligence (AI) to proactively moderate content, in addition to responding to user reports and using human moderators. In colloquial usage, such AIs are called "algorithms" or "bots". TikTok has faced criticism for their unequal enforcement on topics such as LGBT and obesity. This led to a perception that social media moderation is contradictory and inconsistent. [1]

Between July and September 2024, TikTok reported removing 150 million videos, 120 million of which were flagged by automated systems. [6] In addition, AI may miss important context; for example, communities who aid people who struggle with self-harm, suicidal thoughts, or past sexual violence may inadvertently get caught in automated moderation. [7] [8] [1] TikTok users have used algospeak to discuss and provide support to those who self-harm. [9] An interview with 19 TikTok creators revealed that they felt TikTok's moderation lacked contextual understanding, appeared random, was often inaccurate, and exhibited bias against marginalized communities. [1]

Algospeak is also used in communities promoting harmful behaviors. Anti-vaccination Facebook groups began renaming themselves to “dance party” or “dinner party” to avoid being flagged for misinformation. Likewise, communities that encourage the eating disorder anorexia have been employing algospeak. [10] Euphemisms like "cheese pizza" and "touch the ceiling" are used to promote child sexual abuse material (CSAM). [11]

On TikTok, moderation decisions can result in consequences such as account bans and deletion or delisting of videos from the main video discovery page, called the "For You" page. In response, a TikTok spokeswoman told The New York Times that the users' fears are misplaced, saying that many popular videos discuss sex-adjacent topics. [12]

A 2022 poll showed that nearly a third of American social media users reported using "emojis or alternative phrases" to subvert content moderation. [11]

Methods

Algospeak uses techniques akin to those used in Aesopian language to conceal the intended meaning from automated content filters, while being understandable to human readers. One such method draws from leetspeak, where letters are replaced with lookalike characters (eg. $3X for sex). [3] Other similar adoption of obfuscated speech include Cockney rhyming slang and Polari, which were formerly used by London gangs and British gay men respectively. [7] However, unlike other forms of obfuscated speech, the global reach of social media has allowed the language to spread beyond its local community. [3]

Another method is where certain words may be censored, or in the case of auditory media, cut off or bleeped, e.g., s*icide instead of suicide. A third method involves "pseudo-substitution", where an item is censored in one form, while it is present in another form at the same time, as used in videos. [13] Some methods involve intersemiotic translation, where a non-linguistic signs are interpreted linguistically, in addition to further obfuscation. For example, the emoji "🌽" signifies pornography by means of 🌽 → corn → porn. [3]

In an interview study, most creators that were interviewed suspected Tiktok's automated moderation was scanning the audio as well, leading them to also use algospeak terms in speech. Some also label sensitive images with innocuous captions using algospeak, such as captioning a scantily-dressed body as "fake body". [1] The use of gestures and emojis are common in algospeak, showing that it is not limited to written communication. [14]

Impact and detection

Algospeak can lead to misunderstandings. A high-profile incident occured when Italian actress Julia Fox made a seemingly unsympathetic comment on a Tiktok post mentioning "mascara", not knowing its obfuscated meaning of sexual assault. Fox later apologized for her comment. [7] [15] In an interview study, creators shared that the evolving nature of content moderation pressures them to constantly innovate their use of algospeak, which makes them feel less authentic. [14]

A 2024 study showed that GPT-4, a large language model, can often identify and decipher algospeak, especially with example sentences. [16]

Examples

According to New York Times : [12]

Other examples: [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms, in which case it is primarily meant to make the truth sound more palatable. It may also refer to intentional ambiguity in language or to actual inversions of meaning. In such cases, doublespeak disguises the nature of the truth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euphemism</span> Innocuous word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive

A euphemism is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to topics some consider taboo such as mental or physical disability, sexual intercourse, bodily excretions, pain, violence, illness, or death in a polite way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leet</span> Online slang and alternative orthography

Leet, also known as eleet or leetspeak, or simply hacker speech, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via reflection or other resemblance. Additionally, it modifies certain words on the basis of a system of suffixes and alternative meanings. There are many dialects or linguistic varieties in different online communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Content moderation</span> System to sort undesirable contributions

On websites that allow users to create content, content moderation is the process of detecting contributions that are irrelevant, obscene, illegal, harmful, or insulting, in contrast to useful or informative contributions, frequently for censorship or suppression of opposing viewpoints. The purpose of content moderation is to remove or apply a warning label to problematic content or allow users to block and filter content themselves.

The history of humor on the Internet begins together with the Internet itself. Initially, the internet and its precursors, LANs and WANs, were used merely as another medium to disseminate jokes and other kinds of humor, in addition to the traditional ones. In lockstep with the progress of electronic communication technologies, jokers took advantage of the ARPANET, e-mail, Usenet newsgroups, bulletin board systems, etc., and finally the Whole World Wide Web. Gradually, new forms of humor evolved, based on the new possibilities delivered by electronic means of communication. Popular forms of internet humour are found in the form of 'internet memes', GIFs, and short form videos. Reaction videos, where amusement is expressed through a person's response to something, are another prevalent form of humor unique to the internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ByteDance</span> Chinese Internet technology company

ByteDance Ltd. is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Haidian, Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xiaohongshu</span> Chinese social media and E-commerce platform

Xiaohongshu, known in English as Rednote, is a Chinese social networking and e-commerce platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TikTok</span> Video-focused social media platform

TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin, is a short-form video-hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration from three seconds to 60 minutes. It can be accessed through a mobile app or through its website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Censorship of TikTok</span> Restriction of access to TikTok by governments and organizations

Many countries have imposed past or ongoing restrictions on the short-form video-hosting service TikTok. Bans from government devices usually stem from national security concerns over potential access of data by the Chinese government. Other bans have cited children's well-being and offensive content such as pornography. There are also free speech concerns about TikTok ban.

There are reports of TikTok and Douyin censoring political content related to China and other countries as well as content from minority creators. TikTok says that its initial content moderation policies, many of which are no longer applicable, were aimed at reducing divisiveness and were not politically motivated.

Algorithmic radicalization is the concept that recommender algorithms on popular social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook drive users toward progressively more extreme content over time, leading to them developing radicalized extremist political views. Algorithms record user interactions, from likes/dislikes to amount of time spent on posts, to generate endless media aimed to keep users engaged. Through echo chamber channels, the consumer is driven to be more polarized through preferences in media and self-confirmation.

In 2020, the United States government announced that it was considering banning the Chinese social media platform TikTok upon a request from Donald Trump, the president of the United States, who viewed the app as a national security threat. The result was that the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance—which initially planned on selling a small portion of TikTok to an American company—agreed to divest TikTok to prevent a ban in the United States and in other countries where restrictions are also being considered due to privacy concerns, which themselves are mostly related to its ownership by a firm based in China.

In internet slang, rage-baiting is the manipulative tactic of eliciting outrage with the goal of increasing internet traffic, online engagement, revenue and support. Rage baiting or farming can be used as a tool to increase engagement, attract subscribers, followers, and supporters, which can be financially lucrative. Rage baiting and rage farming manipulates users to respond in kind to offensive, inflammatory headlines, memes, tropes, or comments.

The dead Internet theory is an online conspiracy theory that asserts, due to a coordinated and intentional effort, the Internet since 2016 or 2017 has consisted mainly of bot activity and automatically generated content manipulated by algorithmic curation to control the population and minimize organic human activity. Proponents of the theory believe these social bots were created intentionally to help manipulate algorithms and boost search results in order to manipulate consumers. Some proponents of the theory accuse government agencies of using bots to manipulate public perception. The dead Internet theory has gained traction because many of the observed phenomena are quantifiable, such as increased bot traffic, but the literature on the subject does not support the full theory.

Sludge content is a genre of split-screen video on the social media platform TikTok.

Jalaiah Harmon is an American dancer and content creator, who is credited for choreographing the Renegade Dance, one of the most popular dances on TikTok. She danced to the song "Lottery" by K-Camp, an Atlanta-based rapper. The renegade dance incorporated viral dances include Woah and Wave.

Antisemitism on social media can manifest in various forms such as emojis, GIFs, memes, comments, and reactions to content. Studies have categorized antisemitic discourse into different types: hate speech, calls for violence, dehumanization, conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial.

A ban of the video hosting service TikTok began in Nepal on November 13, 2023, with the government attributing it to the disruption of social harmony. It was lifted in August 2024.

Far-right political groups use mainstream social media platforms for communication, propaganda, and mobilization. These platforms include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. By leveraging viral trends, entertaining content, and direct interaction, far-right groups aim to spread their political messages, recruit followers, and foster a sense of community. Such activities are part of broader political processes and activities that involve the organization and spread of political values and ideologies.

<i>Anderson v. TikTok</i> 2024 United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals case

Anderson v. TikTok, 2:22-cv-01849,, is a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in which the court held that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 47 U.S.C. § 230, does not bar claims against TikTok, a video-sharing social media platform, regarding TikTok's recommendations to users via its algorithm.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Steen, Ella; Yurechko, Kathryn; Klug, Daniel (September 2023). "You Can (Not) Say What You Want: Using Algospeak to Contest and Evade Algorithmic Content Moderation on TikTok". Social Media + Society. 9 (3). doi: 10.1177/20563051231194586 . ISSN   2056-3051.
  2. 1 2 Kendra, Alexia; Calhoun, Fawcett (December 30, 2023). ""They Edited Out her Nip Nops": Linguistic Innovation as Textual Censorship Avoidance on TikTok". Language@Internet. 21: 1–30.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Stano, Simona (2022). "Linguistic guerrilla warfare 2.0: On the "forms" of online resistance". Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio (2022: SFL - Language, powers, rights (eds. A. Bertollini & S. Garello)). doi:10.4396/2022SFL13. ISSN   2036-6728.
  4. ↑ Kireeva, Anna (2022). "Neologisms: Sociolinguistic Approach". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.4232119. ISSN   1556-5068.
  5. ↑ McCulloch, Gretchen. "Welcome to Voldemorting, the Ultimate SEO Dis". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-08-12.
  6. ↑ "Community Guidelines Enforcement Report". www.tiktok.com. December 18, 2024. Archived from the original on 2024-12-18. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
  7. 1 2 3 Kreuz, Roger J. (13 April 2023). "What is 'algospeak'? Inside the newest version of linguistic subterfuge". The Conversation . Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  8. ↑ Tillewein, Heather; Mohon-Doyle, Keely; Cox, Destiny (November 2024). "A Critical Discourse Analysis of Sexual Violence Survivors and Censorship on the Social Media Platform TikTok". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 53 (10): 3785–3794. doi:10.1007/s10508-024-02987-2. ISSN   0004-0002.
  9. ↑ Vera, Valerie (October 2023). "Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Content Moderation on TikTok". Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 60 (1): 1164–1166. doi:10.1002/pra2.979. ISSN   2373-9231.
  10. ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (8 April 2022). "Internet 'algospeak' is changing our language in real time, from 'nip nops' to 'le dollar bean'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  11. 1 2 Levine, Alexandra S. "From Camping To Cheese Pizza, 'Algospeak' Is Taking Over Social Media". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-08-27.
  12. 1 2 Delkic, Melina (2022-11-19). "Leg Booty? Panoramic? Seggs? How TikTok Is Changing Language". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  13. ↑ Willenberg, Merle (March 2024). "TW: su1(1d3 -Multimodal Self-Censorship on YouTube". ResearchGate . Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Klug, Daniel; Steen, Ella; Yurechko, Kathryn (2022). "How Algorithm Awareness Impacts Algospeak Use on TikTok". Companion Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2022. pp. 234–237. doi:10.1145/3543873.3587355. ISBN   9781450394192. S2CID   258377709 . Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  15. ↑ Noyce, Eleanor (2023-02-02). "The 'mascara' trend is empowering people to discuss sexual assault on TikTok – but are code-words enough?". Glamour UK. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  16. ↑ Fillies, Jan; Paschke, Adrian (2024). "Simple LLM based Approach to Counter Algospeak". Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on Online Abuse and Harms (WOAH 2024). Association for Computational Linguistics: 136–145. doi:10.18653/v1/2024.woah-1.10.
  17. ↑ Brown, Evan Nicole (2021-03-19). "How Nicknames for the Pandemic Became a Popular Online Trend". The New York Times . Retrieved 2024-10-03.
  18. ↑ Tellez, Anthony. "'Mascara,' 'Unalive,' 'Corn': What Common Social Media Algospeak Words Actually Mean". Forbes . Retrieved 2 January 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.