LogFAQs > #959280402

Monopoman posted...

I also don't think they necessarily promote that s***, the problem is the algorithms feed you more of it so if you see something that makes fun of Hillary and calls her a crook if you like that post, it's more likely to show you more stuff like that. So the right wing get more right wing and a similar case of the left, assuming they get their info from sites like Facebook.

It goes beyond that. It's not just a matter of showing more of the things you actively Like, it's a matter of disproportinately showing people (all people) right-wing stuff because the arguments and controversies that ensue drive more traffic. Facebook records much more than just what you click "Like" on. They record how long you spend with a given post on the screen, whether or not you read comments on it, what sort of comment threads you expand. When they do show left-wing stuff, the dissenting comments are displayed as "more relevant" because that's what people that agree with the initial content are going to spend more time reading and responding to.

Everything about how Facebook and Twitter are designed focuses on one goal: To increase your activity on the site, which in turn increases the amount of time you spend looking at ads, the chance of engaging additional people, and creates additional opportunities for them to gather and sell data about you. The accidental end result of the algorithms that pursue that goal is that all users are being disproportionately shown right-leaning content, regardless of how they personally lean.

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