"Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects1. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk’s platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users’ feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X’s algorithm has persistent effects on users’ current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship."
Among users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared with those remaining on a chronological feed, whereas switching the feed setting in the opposite direction, from algorithmic to chronological, had no effect.
Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actua...
Hoe voorkom je als serieuze nieuwsorganisatie dat je voor het populistische karretje gespannen wordt dmv attention hacking?
"Journalisten zouden geen podium moeten bieden aan extreme politieke boodschappen op X als politici die niet willen toelichten. Herhaal geen uitspraak zonder tegenspraak."
https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/07/09/journalisten-laat-je-niet-langer-gijzelen-a4899788
Ik zou daaraan toevoegen: stop met normaliseren wat niet normaal zou moeten zijn (bijv anti-democratische, haatdragende of anti-wetenschappelijke ideeen)
Peter Gleick
Doug Bostrom
Not Just Bikes 🇳🇱
Jeff Atwood
George Takei 
🏳️🌈🖖🏽
Eatsbluecrayon
Bart Verheggen
Veerle Slegers
anubis2814