Meta partnered with independent academics to research its political effects on users.
  • Facebook and Instagram users see different political news in their feeds depending on their political beliefs.
  • Chronological tapes do not solve the problem of polarization, the researchers say.
  • The vast majority of political news rated by Meta was viewed by conservative users.
  • Algorithmic channels have reduced user time on platforms and lowered engagement with individual posts.
  • Timeline feeds increased political and “unreliable” content, but did not affect user participation in political life.
  • Removing republished posts from users’ feeds has reduced the number of political and unreliable news sources.
  • The algorithms of Facebook and Instagram play a role in increasing the polarization, but social media is not the main cause of controversy.
  • The duration of some studies may have been too short to change user behavior.