Did Facebook fuel political polarization during the 2020 election? It’s complicated. (arstechnica.com)

submitted 11 months ago by seasonone@opidea.xyz to c/technology@beehaw.org

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[-] realslef@fedia.io 29 points 11 months ago

"Yes" really isn't complicated.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 11 points 11 months ago

Yeah, doesn't seem complicated to me at all. Their algorithm is programmed to keep people angry, engaged, and convinced 100% that their opinion is right. (no matter what that opinion is.)

Keeps people clicking on shitty ads and buying stupid crap.

[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 7 points 11 months ago

Sure it is. Is it Meta's algorithm, is it user reach, is it paid ads, is it channels, is it memes, is it leaning, is it...

Meta is participating in a pretty big study with actual researchers here. I'm no Meta fan, and this is partly for PR I'm sure, but this is a really good thing that more social media companies should do.

[-] realslef@fedia.io 1 points 11 months ago

Those seem like "how" or "why" questions to me. More complicated. The big one is "how do we prevent" and I bet we won't get an honest answer from big social themselves. That's why there should be independent public research.