Facebook’s Influence on Political Views May Be Greatly Exaggerated, Researchers Find

Social media algorithms have been a point of contention for lawmakers and regulators for several years over concerns that users were being brainwashed by the flood of misinformation elevate on their feeds . As it turn out , while thealgorithmsdo wallop the individual ’s experience onsocial media , fourstudiespublished on Thursday find it does not now affect the person ’s political beliefs .

Meta match to enter in the research in 2020 , giving the study an extra level of credibility unlike those in the past which relied solely on data severally gathered from publically available selective information and was found on a belittled figure of exploiter .

With Meta ’s assistance , one of the four studies looked at data from 208 million Facebook user during the 2020 presidential election to discern if the misinformation display on their feeds had influenced their political stance . One subject found that of those who register “ untrusty ” news tale , 97 % identified as conservative and in the first place viewedright - wing content .

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The company has receive continued criticism fromFrances Haugen , the Facebook whistleblowerwho , last twelvemonth , expose national documents showing Meta ’s algorithm lift hateful , factious , and false place to the top of users ’ feeds . She argue that if the fellowship were to exchange the feed to be chronological , it would promote less divisiveness among users .

Haugen lay claim Facebook has stood in researchers ’ wayand prevented them from studying how it serve , and in some cases , she say the company repair to taking legal natural action against those who speak out against the company . “ They ’ve sued researchers who caught them with egg on their nerve , ” she toldCBS Newsin June . “ Companies that are opaque can switch off corners at the public expense and there ’s no consequences . ”

One subject area entitle “ How do social media provender algorithms affect attitudes and behavior in an election hunting expedition ? ” did just that and reversed the feed from those orient to their interests to chronological feeds showing the most recent posts first for more than 23,000 Facebook users and 21,000 Instagram users . investigator said they find users pass less time on Facebook when feeds were chronological and the amount of “ political and untrusty subject they saw increased on both platforms . ” However , research worker said the alteration did n’t significantly change or affect “ polarisation . ”

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Overall , researchers said they witness that take away reshared and algorithm - generated posts from individuals ’ feeds over three months did n’t bear on their political stance . “ These are huge experiment , ” Stephan Lewandowsky , a University of Bristol psychologist who was not part of the work toldSCIENCE . “ And these results are quite interesting . ”

Meta ’s President of Global Affairs , Nick Clegg , toldThe New York Timesthat the subject showed “ there is trivial grounds that key feature of Meta ’s platforms alone cause harmful ‘ affectional ’ polarization or has meaningful effects on these outcomes . ” He added that although the results of the studies may not locate the debate about the influence societal media has on democracy , he say , “ We hope and carry it will advance social club ’s agreement of these exit . ”

Katie Harbath , a former public insurance policy director at Meta told the electric receptacle , “ We must be careful about what we usurp is happening versus what in reality is . ” The sketch give away the perhaps unexpected truth that social media may not be solely or even partially responsible for the political opinion of those who utilize the platform . Harbath add together that political ideals are charm in many elbow room , bring , “ societal medium alone is not to blame for all our woes . ”

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