Brainiacs Episode 12: FloodNet, Chess Bias, and our Brains on Meta
Algorithm adjustments made by social media platforms—such as removing reshared content or reverting to a chronological feed—alter the political news their users see and their engagement levels, according to a collection of studies that appeared in the journals Science and Nature.
But these changes do not notably affect their political attitudes, such as levels of political polarization.
The findings are among the first stemming from the most comprehensive research project to date examining the role of social media in American democracy, a multi-year effort led by academics from U.S. colleges and universities and working in collaboration with researchers at Meta.
Algorithm adjustments made by social media platforms—such as removing reshared content or reverting to a chronological feed—alter the political news their users see and their engagement levels, according to a collection of studies that appeared in the journals Science and Nature. But these changes do not notably affect their political attitudes, such as levels of political polarization. The findings are among the first stemming from the most comprehensive research project to date examining the role of social media in American democracy, a multi-year effort led by academics from U.S. colleges and universities and working in collaboration with researchers at Meta.
