Negotiating Netflix Algorithms: User Agency and Personalized Viewing among Turkish Young Adults

This study examines how young Turkish adults experience Netflix’s algorithmic personalization system in their everyday viewing practices. Through their subjective experiences, it explores how they perceive and interpret Netflix's Recommendation System (NRS) and strategies they adopt to negotiate personalized suggestions. It also investigates how Netflix, as a global streaming platform, is adopted within Turkish local culture and how it contributes to changing local audiovisual consumption patterns. Drawing on debates in user agency, domestication, and algorithmic culture, this study approaches users as active agents who not only make sense of and adapt to algorithmic recommendations but also negotiate with them, rather than passive subjects. Based on 10 qualitative, semi-structured interviews with Turkish young adults, the research analyzes everyday viewing habits, content selection practices, perceptions of algorithms, and the relationship between global Netflix content and local audiovisual culture.