Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society (JSLCS)
Volume 9, Numéro 1, Pages 12-26
2026-04-30
Algorithmic Memory: How Recommendation Systems Reshape Collective Narratives Of Culture
Authors : Sedrati Yasser .
Abstract
This article examines how algorithmically driven recommendation systems on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook reshape the dynamics of cultural memory and collective narrative formation in contemporary digital environments. Building on scholarship in digital memory studies—particularly the notion of a “connective turn” proposed by Andrew Hoskins (2011)—the study approaches memory as a continuously circulating process whose visibility increasingly depends on platform infrastructures that prioritize engagement, data extraction, and algorithmic ranking. Within these environments, the circulation of narratives is structured by mechanisms of amplification and suppression that can generate forms of algorithmic silence, whereby certain histories and perspectives remain marginal within digital networks not through explicit censorship but through limited visibility, selective ranking, and uneven patterns of circulation—extending the dynamics of historical silencing described by Michel-Rolph Trouillot (1995) within algorithmically mediated communication systems. Drawing on illustrative examples—including the asymmetrical visibility of narratives surrounding Ukraine and Palestine in global digital media ecosystems and the viral remixing of cultural traditions in the Algerian context—the analysis identifies three interrelated mechanisms through which algorithmic memory operates: amplification and erasure, commodification and datafication, and the reconfiguration of identity and belonging. Taken together, these dynamics demonstrate that recommendation systems function not merely as tools for organizing information but as socio-technical infrastructures that actively participate in shaping collective memory, producing new forms of algorithmic silence that influence what is remembered, forgotten, and politically recognized in digitally mediated societies.
Keywords
Algorithmic memory ; recommendation systems ; cultural narratives ; digital platforms ; visibility
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