Study shows social media use decreases when algorithm-based feeds are removed.

DUBLIN: Social media platforms have long been criticized for using opaque algorithms that dictate what users see on their feeds.

But according to research published by the journal Science and backed by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, removing algorithm-based feeds only causes users to reduce the amount of time they spend on the platforms.

“The notion that such algorithms create political ‘filter bubbles,’ foster polarization, exacerbate existing social inequalities, and enable the spread of disinformation has become rooted in the public consciousness,” according to the researchers, who were led by Andrew M. Guess of Princeton University.

Keeping user and algorithm apart, however, “did not change” peoples’ political attitudes, knowledge and offline behaviours, they found, suggesting that when account holders encountered views at odds with their own, they were inclined to just stop scrolling and do something else.

The study sought to “examine the effect of algorithmic feed-ranking systems on individuals’ political attitudes and behaviors as related to the US presidential election in 2020.”

The vote was widely described as reflecting an increasingly-polarized US, with supporters of incumbent Donald Trump and challenger Joe Biden finding little common ground.

However, in a separate paper published by Science, a team of researchers led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Sandra González-Bailón found that such “siloing” was in part driven by algorithm-driven Facebook feeds and the sharing of posts, with Trump supporters seen as more likely to be “ideologically segregated” than Biden backers.

“Our analyses highlight that Facebook… is substantially segregated ideologically – far more than previous research on internet news consumption based on browsing behavior has found,” the researchers said. – dpa