Lawrence Abrams* says a new Chrome extension uses machine intelligence to filter the toxicity found in comments on social media and other services.
Photo: mphotoi
Are you annoyed with all the vitriolic and angry comments that you see on social media?
If so, then a new and experimental Chrome extension called Tune is hoping to help you dial it down.
Tune was created by Jigsaw, a technology incubator operated by Alphabet Inc., that uses machine intelligence to filter toxicity found in comments on social media and services like YouTube and Reddit.
Using this extension, users can use a dial to specify the “volume” of toxic comments that you would like to see.
In order to use Tune, you will need to install it into Chrome and then log in with your Google account.
Once logged in, you will be able to configure the sites you wish to filter and the “volume” that you would like to use when filtering them.
The extension allows you to configure six volume levels starting with “Hide it all”, which filters almost everything, and then moving up through the “Keep it quiet”, “Keep it low”, “Keep it medium”, “Keep it loud”, “Keep it blaring”, and finally “Show it all”, which basically turns off filtering.
When a comment is filtered, it will be replaced as a dot on the screen.
When Bleeping Computer tested the filter settings, we found that “Keep it quiet” let comments in, but most were filtered even if they looked pretty harmless.
“Keep it loud” or “Keep it blaring”, on the other hand, let almost every comment through.
The best setting for us was in the middle so that most comments came in except for those that were the most angry and antagonistic, which added nothing to conversation in the first place.
In order to filter the comments, they must first be uploaded to Google’s servers where they will be analysed for their toxicity levels.
This leads to concerns that Google will use your data without your permission.
Jigsaw has stated that no comments are saved or associated with your account after being uploaded and will automatically be deleted after being scored.
As the extension can be configured to a user’s preference, many people may enjoy using it in order to filter those comments that they normally find distasteful.
At the same time, maybe a bit of discord and opposing views is a good thing in life.
That’s up to you to decide.
* Lawrence Abrams is the creator and owner of BleepingComputer.com.
This article first appeared at www.bleepingcomputer.com/.
