Public wants social media firms to stop building dossiers on sexual desires, research finds 

Irish Council for Civil Liberties claims 'recommender system' algorithms promote suicide and self-loathing among teens, drive children to online addictions, and feed users personalised diets of hate and disinformation for profit.

More than 80% of people want an end to social media companies building up dossiers about users’ sexual desires and political and religious views in order to direct content into their feeds, according to a new survey.

The research found 82% of Irish people want “big tech’s toxic algorithms switched off”

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties, which, along with campaigners Uplift, commissioned the research, claims these “recommender system” algorithms promote suicide and self-loathing among teens, drive children to online addictions, and feed users personalised diets of hate and disinformation for profit.

The research, conducted by Ireland Thinks, said the findings back draft rules by Coimisiún na Meán, Ireland’s new online regulator, which proposes recommender systems based on intimately profiling people should be turned off by default on social media video platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

ICCL senior fellow Johnny Ryan said: “Social media was supposed to bring us together. Instead, it tears us apart. Users — not big tech’s algorithms — should have the freedom to decide what they see and share online.” 

Siobhan O’Donoghue of Uplift said: “Big tech’s toxic recommender systems and algorithms are amplifying hate speech, weaponising every fault line within our communities — driven by relentless surveillance to maximise 'engagement' and ultimately profits.” 

The ICCL said recommender systems select “emotive and extreme" content and show it to people who the system estimates are most likely to be outraged. 

"These outraged people then spend longer on the platform, which allows the company to make more money showing them ads," it said.