A new paper examines how X (formerly Twitter)'s algorithms affect politics.
A research paper published in the academic journal Nature has found that the algorithm of X (formerly Twitter) influences users' political opinions. According to this study, using X makes users' political opinions more conservative.
The political effects of X's feed algorithm | Nature
X's Algorithm Pushes Users to Lean More Conservative, Researchers Find
https://gizmodo.com/researchers-find-that-xs-algorithm-can-push-users-to-lean-more-conservative-2000723017
The political effects of X's feed algorithm
https://werd.io/the-political-effects-of-xs-feed-algorithm/
X (formerly Twitter) used a timeline that displayed content in chronological order until 2016. However, since then, an algorithmically curated 'Recommended (For You)' timeline has been added. Furthermore, since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 , this recommended timeline has become the default.
Twitter's timeline 'recommended' settings are fixed as default - GIGAZINE
Musk has stated that the recommended timeline algorithm will be 'purely AI (Grok) by November 2025,' and at the time of writing, it is clear that Grok controls this algorithm.
It has also been pointed out that X's recommended timeline algorithm 'favors right-wing content.' Furthermore, a Sky News investigation revealed that X's recommended timeline algorithm favors right-wing and extremist content, as well as posts from politicians favored by Musk. While this effect was more pronounced among accounts that already had some right-wing leanings, the trend was seen across all political positions.
The study, conducted by researchers from Bocconi University in Italy, the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, and the Paris School of Economics in France, systematically explores the potential of X's recommendation timeline algorithm to bring about lasting changes in the way users consume media.
A study of X's recommended timelines over a seven-week period from July to September 2023 revealed that the content the algorithm serves to users not only has higher engagement rates, but also prioritizes conservative content over liberal content and posts by political activists over news media.
Posts with a conservative nature were about 20% more likely to appear on timelines, while liberal posts were only 3.1% more likely. This difference was even more pronounced when it came to the algorithm's treatment of news-related content: traditional news content appeared on users' timelines about 58% less, while posts from political activists increased by 27.4% and posts from entertainment accounts increased by 21.5%.
The researchers also found that the content recommended by the algorithm influences users' views on some political issues.
The research team surveyed X users in the United States, asking them about their political beliefs and how they use the platform. They then asked the surveyed users to use X in either the 'Recommended' or 'Following' categories.
Users who normally check their timeline through 'Following' but checked their timeline through 'Recommended' during the experiment reported a shift in their political opinions to more conservative ones, while users who normally check their timeline through 'Recommended' but checked their timeline through 'Following' during the experiment showed no change in their political opinions.
Specifically, users influenced by X's recommended timeline algorithm showed increased interest in conservative policy priorities like immigration, more negative views of the multiple criminal investigations into President Donald Trump that began in 2023, and more support for pro-Russian views of the Russia-Ukraine war. These changes occurred even though the users surveyed did not report changes in partisan affiliation or emotional polarization (emotional aversion or distrust toward political out-groups).
The researchers found that the rightward shift in political opinion likely continued even after the experiment ended, because users who used the algorithm were more likely to follow X accounts of conservative political activists, but not to follow liberal accounts or news outlets.
'Our findings show that algorithms have a significant impact on who users follow, suggesting that algorithms shape content exposure more than previously thought,' the research team wrote.
Related Posts:
in Web Service, Science, Posted by logu_ii