These recommendation systems take control away from individuals over what content they see and replace that choice with black box algorithms that don't explain why you are seeing the content that you are or what other content was excluded. All of the companies who have deployed these content selection algorithms could have also given you manual choice over the content that you see, but chose instead to let the algorithm solely determine the content of your feed, either removing the manual option entirely or burying it so thoroughly that no one bothers to use it.

These algorithms are not benign. They make choices about what information you consume, whose opinions you read, what movies you watch, what products you are exposed to, even which politicians messages you hear.

When people complain about the takeover of algorithms, they don't mean databases or web interfaces. They mean this: content selection or preference algorithms.

We should be deeply suspicious. We should demand greater accountability. We should require that the algorithms explain themselves and offer alternatives. We should implement better. Give control back to the users in meaningful ways

If software engineering is indeed a profession, our professional responsibilities include tempering the damaging effects of content selection algorithms.