Review: Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Filterworld is one of those books that I appreciated as much for the questions it reinforced as for the arguments it made. Kyle Chayka offers a rich account of how algorithms shape the culture we consume and, in turn, the culture that gets made as a result of that process. I found myself nodding along with much of his analysis, though less engaged with some of his biggest conclusions.

One of the book's greatest strengths is that it doesn't pretend algorithms emerged from nowhere. Chayka traces a longer history of recommendation and filtering before arriving at today's digital platforms, and that historical context gives the book a depth that many critiques of social media and algorithmic culture lack when they frame it as entirely new (that is the concerns that a media-ecosystem create). At the same time, I wanted him to push that history even further.

Where I most disagreed with the book was its framing of what feels genuinely new. Chayka often presents Filterworld as a significant break from the past, but I kept asking myself how different these dynamics really are. We have always lived with gatekeepers. Editors, publishers, critics, television executives, newspaper owners, and cultural institutions have long determined what gets elevated, what gets ignored, and what is considered worthy of attention. Those decisions have never been neutral. They have reflected the biases of their time and place, especially within Western culture. They declared what is and isn't appropriate and often, dismissed huge amounts of meaningful work by those that did not fit the "type."

That's also why I was less persuaded by Chayka's faith in tastemakers and human curators as the legitimate honest brokers. I appreciate thoughtful curators, and there are plenty whose recommendations I value. But history gives me reason to be cautious about treating human gatekeepers as the obvious solution. My mind goes to Fredric Wertham and the damage his cultural authority did to comics in the U.S., narrowing what an entire medium was allowed to become for decades. Human curation can flatten culture just as effectively as algorithms can; we see that now with the Trump administrations attempts to destroy civil rights and the cultural ideas that helped to make the world more inclusive.

I question Chayka's distinction between passive algorithmic consumption and earlier forms of media. Newspapers, radio, and television all presented streams of information that demanded discernment from their audiences. Passive consumption has always been a temptation. Cultivated judgment has always been necessary. Algorithms amplify those challenges, but they didn't invent them.

The same was true of his discussion of globalization and cultural sameness. I don't disagree that recommendation systems encourage homogenization, but I also think we've been standardizing aesthetics, representations, and ideals for a very long time. Whether it's what kitchens should look like, what cities should aspire to, or even whose skin was properly represented on film, these patterns long predate recommendation engines.

Instead, I longed for a more pluralistic approach. Rather than replacing algorithms with a privileged class of tastemakers, I'd rather see many different forms of curation alongside a renewed commitment for each of us to cultivate our own judgment. That's where the book resonated most with me. It made me more conscious of my own media habits, where I'm relying on algorithmic recommendations, where I'm choosing differently, and what practices I can adopt to be more intentional with my attention. I also realize that's an individualistic response to a systematic problem, but I'm not sure there was much better responses about addressing this from Chayka.

Chayka does try to move beyond diagnosis and imagine regulation, but I remained skeptical that the proposed solutions feel workable for ordinary people. Greater control often comes with greater friction. GDPR is a good example: it promises agency but frequently amounts to clicking through yet another consent banner without providing a tangible sense of empowerment.

The book reminds me of works like Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, C. Thi Nguyen's The Games We Play, Cory Doctorow's Enshittification, and Alison Pugh's The Last Human Job. Together, they point toward a broader conversation about systems, incentives, and the ways our choices are shaped and therein, relationships are made, not made, or unmade. 

Beneath all the discussion of algorithms, Chayka is really writing about connection. He wants art to be something that helps people encounter one another rather than simply another item in an endless feed of optimized recommendations. That's an impulse I share, even if I remain unconvinced that our current moment is as historically distinct as he argues.

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