can change how its Trending algorithm operates, he argues, so that human moderators will be able to regulate it.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube. CNBC

The Trending tab features videos algorithmically, factoring in things like view count, rate of growth in views, and the age of the video. YouTube's position is that because it has country-specific Trending tabs all over the world that update approximately every 15 minutes, it would be impossible to have humans moderate that section. "This is an absurd excuse," Christo Wilson, an assistant professor in Northeastern University's College of Computer and Information Science, tells CNBC. "YouTube implemented the Trending algorithm, and if it is updating too fast to moderate, then the solution is to simply slow it down. This is a technical change that is well within YouTube's control." In the same way that YouTube makes the decision to give Trending such a high-profile spot on its home page, it can make the decision to tweak how it works. "If Trending videos were currently being picked by a team of people, those people would be getting fired after today," Wilson says. "Why do we expect less from an algorithm?"

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