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U.S. NEWS Friday 28 July 2023

Deep dive into Meta's algorithms shows that America's political

polarization has no easy fix

By DAVID KLEPPER tion by fact-checkers. They
Associated Press also have more sources to
WASHINGTON (AP) — The choose from. The analy-
powerful algorithms used sis found that among the
by Facebook and Insta- websites included in po-
gram to deliver content litical Facebook posts, far
to users have increasingly more cater to conserva-
been blamed for ampli- tives than liberals.
fying misinformation and Overall, 97% of the political
political polarization. But a news sources on Facebook
series of groundbreaking identified by fact-checkers
studies published Thursday as having spread misinfor-
suggest addressing these mation were more popular
challenges is not as simple with conservatives than lib-
as tweaking the platforms' erals.
software. The authors of the papers
The four research papers, acknowledged some limi-
published in Science and tations to their work. While
Nature, also reveal the ex- they found that changing
tent of political echo cham- Facebook's algorithms had
bers on Facebook, where little impact on polarization,
conservatives and liberals they note that the study
rely on divergent sources only covered a few months
of information, interact This photo shows the mobile phone app logos for, from left, Facebook and Instagram in New York, during the 2020 election,
with opposing groups and Oct. 5, 2021. and therefore cannot as-
consume distinctly different Associated Press sess the long-term impact
amounts of misinformation. that algorithms have had
Algorithms are the auto- es are a function of any reshare option, which al- little evidence that key fea- since their use began years
mated systems that social healthy democracy, polar- lows users to quickly share tures of Meta's platforms ago.
media platforms use to sug- ization occurs when those viral posts, users saw sig- alone cause harmful 'af- They also noted that most
gest content for users by differences begin to pull nificantly less news from un- fective' polarization or has people get their news and
making assumptions based citizens apart from each trustworthy sources and less any meaningful impact on information from a variety
on the groups, friends, top- other and the societal political news overall, but key political attitudes, be- of sources — television, ra-
ics and headlines a user bonds they share. It can there were no significant liefs or behaviors." dio, the internet and word-
has clicked on in the past. undermine faith in demo- changes to their political Katie Harbath, Facebook's of-mouth — and that those
While they excel at keep- cratic institutions and the attitudes. former director of public interactions could affect
ing users engaged, algo- free press. Likewise, reducing the con- policy, said they showed people's opinions, too.
rithms have been criticized Significant division can un- tent that Facebook users the need for greater re- Many in the United States
for amplifying misinforma- dermine confidence in de- get from accounts with the search on social media blame the news media for
tion and ideological con- mocracy or democratic same ideological align- and challenged assump- worsening polarization.
tent that has worsened the institutions and lead to "af- ment had no significant tions about the role social To complete their analy-
country's political divisions. fective polarization," when effect on polarization, sus- media plays in American ses, the researchers pored
Proposals to regulate these citizens begin to view each ceptibility to misinformation democracy. Harbath was over data from millions of
systems are among the other more as enemies or extremist views. not involved in the re- users of Facebook and Ins-
most discussed ideas for than legitimate opposi- Together, the findings sug- search. tagram and surveyed spe-
addressing social media's tion. It's a situation that can gest that Facebook us- "People want a simple solu- cific users who agreed to
role in spreading misinfor- lead to violence, as it did ers seek out content that tion and what these studies participate. All identifying
mation and encouraging when supporters of then- aligns with their views and show is that it's not simple," information about specific
polarization. But when the President Donald Trump at- that the algorithms help by said Harbath, a fellow at users was stripped out for
researchers changed the tacked the U.S. Capitol on "making it easier for people the Bipartisan Policy Center privacy reasons.
algorithms for some users Jan. 6, 2021. to do what they're inclined and the CEO of the tech Lazer, the Northeastern pro-
during the 2020 election, To conduct the analysis, to do," according to Da- and politics firm Anchor fessor, said he was at first
they saw little difference. researchers obtained un- vid Lazer, a Northeastern Change. "To me, it rein- skeptical that Meta would
"We find that algorithms precedented access to University professor who forces that when it comes give the researchers the
are extremely influential Facebook and Instagram worked on all four papers. to polarization, or people's access they needed, but
in people's on-platform data from the 2020 election Eliminating the algorithm political beliefs, there's a was pleasantly surprised.
experiences and there is through a collaboration altogether drastically re- lot more that goes into this He said the conditions im-
significant ideological seg- with Meta, the platforms' duced the time users spent than social media." posed by the company
regation in political news owners. The researchers on either Facebook or In- The work also revealed the were related to reasonable
exposure," said Talia Jomini say Meta exerted no con- stagram while increasing extent of the ideological legal and privacy con-
Stroud, director of the Cen- trol over their findings. their time on TikTok, You- differences of Facebook cerns. More studies from
ter for Media Engagement When they replaced the Tube or other sites, showing users and the different ways the collaboration will be re-
at the University of Texas at algorithm with a simple just how important these that conservatives and lib- leased in coming months.
Austin and one of the lead- chronological listing of systems are to Meta in the erals use the platform to "There is no study like this,"
ers of the studies. "We also posts from friends — an increasingly crowded so- get news and information he said of the research
find that popular proposals option Facebook recently cial media landscape. about politics. published Thursday. "There's
to change social media al- made available to users — In response to the papers, Conservative Facebook been a lot of rhetoric about
gorithms did not sway politi- it had no measurable im- Meta's president for global users are more likely to this, but in many ways the
cal attitudes." pact on polarization. When affairs, Nick Clegg, said the consume content that has research has been quite
While political differenc- they turned off Facebook's findings showed "there is been labeled misinforma- limited."q