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MSNBCAPR 12 2024
A new study has claimed that Meta's implementation of 63 temporary "break glass" Facebook algorithm changes between Nov. 2020 and Mar. 2021 affected conclusions published within the academic journal Science in 2023 that the social media platform did not contribute to polarization.New research has claimed that 63 temporary Facebook algorithm changes made by Meta between Nov. 2020 and Mar. 2021 affected conclusions published in a 2023 study concerning whether the social media platform encouraged untrustworthy news.
Last year's paper, published in July 2023 by Guess et al. in a funded collaboration with Meta, concluded from data taken between September to December 2020 that Meta's machine-learning algorithm "did not cause detectable changes" in polarization and showed less untrustworthy news content than a reverse chronological feed.
However, Bagchi et al. claims that temporary algorithm changes intended to "diminish the spread of voter-fraud misinformation" following the 2020 US Presidential Election affected the "validity and conclusion" of the study by altering the experiment's control condition.However, Bagchi et al. claims that algorithm changes beginning in Nov. 2020 intended to "diminish the spread of voter-fraud misinformation" following the 2020 US election affected the study's "validity and conclusion," with untrustworthy news content increasing again in Mar. 2021 following the end of Meta's temporary measures.
Social media has played a key part in the rise of polarization, with algorithms and fake news seeking to exploit audiences who continue to spend an increasing amount of time online. Unless there is an immediate and widespread effort to teach key skills to help identify and combat this digital epidemic, social cohesion will continue to crumble in the face of division and hatred.
Social media is one of a multitude of independent factors that can be attributed to today's tide of polarization. Ranging from considerations such as a country's political freedom to the unique psychological state of any given individual, whilst social media cannot be denied as an important part of the puzzle solving the problem of an increasingly divided world involves more than placing sole blame on online platforms.