Nature: The political effects of X's feed algorithm
5 hours ago
- #algorithmic bias
- #political polarization
- #social media
- Feed algorithms on X (formerly Twitter) shift political opinions towards more conservative positions, particularly on policy priorities, views on Trump investigations, and the war in Ukraine.
- Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increases engagement and promotes conservative content, while switching back has no significant effect.
- The algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes traditional media posts, leading users to follow conservative activist accounts persistently.
- Effects are asymmetric: turning the algorithm on influences political attitudes, but turning it off does not reverse these changes.
- No significant impact on affective polarization or partisanship was observed from algorithm changes.
- The study was conducted independently of X, using a randomized field experiment with active US-based users over 7 weeks in 2023.
- Results suggest that initial exposure to algorithmic content has lasting effects on political attitudes and online behavior.