The Flat Earth Convention welcomed special guest Logan Paul this weekend, which created quite a stir on the internet. This announcement is either a startling revelation…or a well-executed trolling session and in the star’s case, it was the latter.
The internet went crazy after Logan was spotted at the Flat Earth International Conference in Denver on November 15th. But despite his big speech, some people are calling BS. Keemstar goes on to make the point that views have been down for Logan and, especially after Shane Dawson’s revealing docuseries on the Paul family which basically claimed the Logan is a sociopath.
There’s also a photo which shows Logan and his video team at the convention, which all comes down to conclude reasonably that his is all a joke.
Well, the flat earth society did not like that at all. In fact, the organization took to Twitter to clear up a few things. They said.
As of the time of publishing this statement, TFES has not been in contact with Logan Paul, and we have no intention of offering him membership or otherwise affiliating with him. Claims that Logan Paul is a member of TFES or that he may be considered for membership are untrue.
— Flat Earth Society (@FlatEarthOrg) November 18, 2018
Apparently, the convention in Colorado was not an official event associated with the Flat Earth Society. So, they claim they had nothing to do with Logan showing up there.
So what’s the big deal anyway?
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Well, despite there being abundant scientific evidence and photographic proof of our Earth being a round planet, this subset of people believe strongly that the earth is flat. And while many might be able to roll their eyes and move on, some people are worried that the spreading of this theory reveals a deeper issue.
Former YouTube engineer Guillaume Chaslot expressed his concerns about YouTube’s dangerous algorithm. He said:
“The YouTube algorithm that I helped build in 2011 still recommends the flat earth theory by the *hundreds of millions*. Flat Earth is not a “small bug”. It reveals that there is a structural problem in Google’s and Facebook’s AIs: they exploit weaknesses of the most vulnerable people, to make them believe the darnedest things ”
To help combat and bring awareness to the problem Chaslot created http://algotransparency.org , which scans YouTube recommendations daily. If harmful videos get recommended by the AI from many channels, they will appear at the top of the list.
What’s YouTube doing about it?
Well, in March, it added an ‘Information Cues’ feature, which pops up text boxes containing factual information on conspiracy theory videos, and a ‘Top News’ section meant to offer up fact-based news covering current events.
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But as Chaslot pointed out, these information cues do not show up on Flat earth videos.
-What do you think about Logan Pauls stunt? Do you think it will spread flat earth theory? Or help expose it? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
