A metric for Filter Bubble measurement in recommender algorithms considering the news domain

• Published in: Applied soft computing Vol. 97; p. 106771
• Main Authors: Lunardi, Gabriel Machado, Machado, Guilherme Medeiros, Maran, Vinicius, de Oliveira, José Palazzo M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: Computer Science; Diversity; Fake news; Filter bubbles; News recommendation; Recommender systems; News recommendation; Filter bubbles; Fake news; Recommender systems; Diversity; Diversity Fake news
• ISSN: 1568-4946; 1872-9681
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asoc.2020.106771

Recommender systems have been constantly refined to improve the accuracy of rating prediction and ranking generation. However, when a recommender system is too accurate in predicting the users’ interests, negative impacts can arise. One of the most critical is the filter bubbles creation, a situation where a user receives less content diversity. In the news domain, such effect is critical once they are ways of opinion formation. In this paper, we aim to assess the role that a specific set of recommender algorithms has in the creation of filter bubbles and if diversification approaches can decrease such effect. We also verify the effects of such an environment in the users’ exposition and interaction to fake news in the Brazilian presidential election of 2018. To perform such a study, we developed a prototype that recommends news stories and presents these recommendations in a feed. To measure the filter bubble, we introduce a new metric based on the homogenization of a recommended items’ set. Our results show KNN item-based recommendation with the MMR diversification algorithm performs slightly better in putting the user in contact with less homogeneous content while presenting a lower index of likes in fake news. •A metric for measuring filter bubbles.•An analysis of filter bubbles formation in the Brazilian political news domain.•Diversification is able to decrease the homogenization of a recommended items set.•The user interaction with fake content is decreased by a diversification strategy.•A rating dataset of news items in Portuguese.