The X algorithm really is trying to radicalize you—researchers just proved it

A new study shows that X’s ‘For you’ algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes traditional media, effectively shifting users’ opinions.

[Photo: Anna Barclay/Getty Images]

In the months following Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, my experience with the platform (and perhaps yours too) got quickly, dramatically worse. My algorithmic timeline, better known as the “For you” tab, devolved into a broken fire hydrant of tweets from blue-checked engagement farmers, shameless meme thieves, clout-chasing Republican politicians, and pseudonymous YouTubers posting weird, uncanny rage-bait. For a brief period, X even made “For you” the default setting, nudging users toward this slurry of boosted content and away from a simple chronological feed of posts from the accounts they chose to follow.

As a result of these changes, anytime I opened the app and neglected to select the chronological feed, I was not really........

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