Deep dive into Meta’s algorithms shows that America’s political polarization has no easy fix

By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A team of some of the world’s leading social media researchers has published four studies looking at the relationship between the algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram and America’s widening political divide. The analysis examined user data from the 2020 election and found that changing the algorithms had little to no impact on people’s political attitudes. That suggested that addressing political polarization in the U.S. will require more than just new social media software. The analysis also showed how conservatives and liberals rely on different sources for news and information, and that conservatives encounter far more political misinformation on Facebook than liberals do. Algorithms are the automated systems that social media platforms use to suggest content for users.