As more algorithmic systems have come under scrutiny for their potential to inflict societal harms, an increasing number of organizations that hold power over harmful algorithms have chosen (or were required under the law) to abandon them. While social movements and calls to abandon harmful algorithms have emerged across application domains, little academic attention has been paid to studying abandonment as a means to mitigate algorithmic harms. In this paper, we take a first step towards conceptualizing "algorithm abandonment" as an organization's decision to stop designing, developing, or using an algorithmic system due to its (potential) harms. We conduct a thematic analysis of real-world cases of algorithm abandonment to characterize the dynamics leading to this outcome. Our analysis of 40 cases reveals that campaigns to abandon an algorithm follow a common process of six iterative phases: discovery, diagnosis, dissemination, dialogue, decision, and death, which we term the "6 D's of abandonment". In addition, we highlight key factors that facilitate (or prohibit) abandonment, which include characteristics of both the technical and social systems that the algorithm is embedded within. We discuss implications for several stakeholders, including proprietors and technologists who have the power to influence an algorithm's (dis)continued use, FAccT researchers, and policymakers.

翻译：随着越来越多的算法系统因可能造成社会危害而受到审视，越来越多的掌握有害算法权力的组织选择（或依法被要求）弃用这些算法。尽管在各应用领域已出现呼吁弃用有害算法的社会运动，但学术界对将弃用作为一种缓解算法危害手段的研究仍显不足。本文首次尝试对"算法弃用"进行概念化——将其定义为组织因算法（潜在）危害而停止设计、开发或使用算法系统的决策。我们通过主题分析法，基于实际案例揭示导致这一结果的动态过程。对40个案例的分析表明，算法弃用运动遵循一个包含六个迭代阶段的共同进程：发现（Discovery）、诊断（Diagnosis）、传播（Dissemination）、对话（Dialogue）、决策（Decision）与消亡（Death），我们将其命名为"弃用的6D模型"。此外，我们重点揭示了促进（或阻碍）弃用的关键因素，包括算法嵌入的技术系统与社会系统的特征。最后，我们讨论了对多方利益相关者的启示，包括有权决定算法（停止）使用的所有者和技术人员、FAccT研究者以及政策制定者。