Overview
- Researchers assigned 4,965 active U.S. users in 2023 to either X’s algorithmic “For You” feed or a chronological feed for seven weeks.
- Users switched to the algorithm were 4.7 percentage points more likely to prioritize Republican-favored issues and more likely to view investigations into Donald Trump as unacceptable.
- Participants exposed to the algorithm also moved in a more pro-Russia direction, including a 7.4 percentage-point drop in positive views of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
- Feed analysis showed conservative posts were roughly 20% more likely to appear, compared with a 3.1% boost for liberal posts, while traditional news appeared about 58% less often and posts by political activists and entertainment accounts rose 27.4% and 21.5%, respectively.
- The algorithm nudged users to follow more right-leaning accounts with effects that persisted after returning to a chronological feed, and the findings add pressure as French police probe potential algorithm manipulation at X.