A few weeks of X’s algorithm can make you more right-wing – and it doesn’t wear off quickly
X’s algorithms are an editorial force, shaping what people know, whom they pay attention to, who the outgroup is and what “we” should do about or to them, and what people come to believe.
@toxify one more reason I just don't fuck around with X. Albeit Blue Sky seems to effectively be the opposite. It's enough work trying to stay balanced and sort out what is truly happening on a daily basis without the manipulation effects of these social media networks.
It's really demoralizing to so many. Especially considering at one time Twitter was a net good but has - before even Musk but especially since Musk - become an absolutely nightmarish propoganda conduit.
The good news is, no it can't. If you read the paper, all it says is that nazi people tend to follow nazis. 🤷🏿♂️
And that if you log into a nazi's Twitter account, and switch their account from algorithmic back to chronological, that they don't unfollow the nazis that they have been following.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/116103661147175039
Normal people don't follow nazis on Twitter.
Shout out to everyone reading this paper, not understanding it, and drawing the wrong conclusions.🤷🏿♂️ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10098-2 Switching to Twitter's algorithmic feed from chronological, only shifts political attitudes to the right *for people susceptible to far-right nonsense.* Because they start following far-right dudes🤡 Switching back to chronological doesn't undo the far-right shift... Because the people affected don't unfollow the far-right dudes. And they don't start following more normal people🤡 Again, Black folk use Twitter the *most*. Black people get exposed to far-right dudes but are the *least* far-right
Republicans and Independents were affected most.
Although not all R's and I's are nazis, algorithmic manipulation *does* push them further along that nazi path.
It's healthier for all folks & society when algorithms are not imposed on any of us.
- - -
[...] the results are driven by Republicans and Independents, whereas Democrats’ views are largely unaffected by the experiment [...]
[...] X’s feed algorithm tends to push more conservative content to users’ feeds.
[This] led users to follow conservative activist accounts.
[...] when the algorithmic feed was switched off, users continued to follow [those activist accounts]
[Exposure to these algorithms has a lasting impact on both feeds & attitudes] indicating that algorithms *shape content exposure more* than believed previously.
[*emphasis* added]
Democrats largely unaffected.
Y'all refuse to see this as "mask off" vs "changing what's behind the mask."
👩🏼My mom has some super racist tendencies. 👩🏿I'm sorry to hear that. But yes, I noticed. 👩🏼 So we can't allow algorithmic feeds! Because then she might see some far-right influencer accounts! 👩🏿Yes, those accounts are terrible. I see that mess too -- 👩🏼Which she would then have to follow, and get all of her news from! 👩🏿Wait... 👩🏼So the problem is the algorithmic feeds! 👩🏿I don't think that's -- 👩🏼They're making America racist!
Gradually shifting views through algorithms is a long term strategy.
Young people and the marginalized are more susceptible to these shifts -- especially those who have yet to find their masks.
Look. We don't have to go back and forth on this. And we don't have to agree.
My approach is to fight fascism and racism head on. That way when people are inevitably exposed to racist and fascist messaging, they are less susceptible. The systems of policing, written and TV news, and education, are much worse and more pervasive sources of racist and fascist acceptance than social media, and it is not even close. Those systems are what cause people to be susceptible to racism and fascism.
The other approach is to say that the latent racism and fascism is acceptable, just so long as we keep everyone on a chronological feed so that they never have the opportunity to click follow on their favorite nazi.
I think the second approach is beyond silly, and is a common approach taken by white people that don't want to address racism head on. It's a lazy way out, and it's not effective. Directly: I want there to be more white people that can see a racist on social media without wanting to follow them.
The problem is not algorithmic feeds. The problem is that most of y'all just accept that half of your families are super racist. And you know they're racist.
If your mom is racist? I don't want to fight algorithmic feeds. I want to fight your mom. Ideologically, of course. 🙂
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