Artificial Intelligence Researcher Marc Faddoul studies social media algorithms. He says they’re only designed to do one thing, keep you clicking.

“A big problem with these algorithms is that there main and only purpose is to have you spend as much time as possible on the platform, instead of trying to find the content that brings you value,” Faddoul told host Nick VinZant during an episode of the Profoundly Pointless podcast.

Faddoul says this process is why your feed is filled with misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories and things that just generally make you mad.

“The recommender system algorithm is trained to maximize engagement. And disinformation, sensational or polarizing content draws more engagement because we have this natural tendency to look for something new. They have many of the same design techniques that are used in casinos,” said Faddoul.

Deciding which post to highlight, is a process Faddoul says not even the social media algorithms’ designers entirely understand. Faddoul says that while every social platform’s algorithm favors engagements, developers couldn’t tell you why one post ends up being favored over another.

“These algorithms are running on so much data, it becomes impossible to follow what’s happening. So, if you ask an engineer at Facebook, why a given post was being recommended on your feed, they’re not going to be able to tell you. You don’t really have a lot of interpretability for decisions that are made,” said Faddoul.

“Imagine there is the ocean of content and each post is a ripple. There are many different posts that have the same height, many things the recommender agents could pick that have a similar likelihood to generate engagement and that’s where you have bias towards certain types of content. They (the algorithms) like the click-baity ones and the sensationalist ones because they have have a tiny bit higher likelihood to being engaging,” said Faddoul.

To learn more about how Faddoul says algorithms are playing an ever greater role in our lives, check out the episode of Profoundly Pointless below. We explore how algorithms are involved in everything from crime prevention and facial recognition, to job applications and bank loans.