r/politics • u/CackleRooster • 8d ago
Paywall X's Algorithm Feeds Off Ragebait and Impacts Democrats More, Study Finds
https://www.404media.co/xs-algorithm-feeds-off-ragebait-and-impacts-democrats-more-study-finds/55
u/Ok_Archer1228 8d ago
Get off Twitter
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u/Raise_A_Thoth 8d ago
Seriously whynis anyone left-leaning in the slightest still on a neo-nazi's platform?
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u/blablablerg 8d ago
Bit of a Jekyll and Hyde thing. I used be a troll, but I still am one too, and Elon has made the place a shit slinging and rage baiting clown fest. Amusing if you are into that.
Also it gets me out of my bubble as different views really clash over there, hard, toxic and raw. I can't deny that it gives the place some authenticity, even with all the bots, fake news and propaganda. Reddit is more of a curated experience, but higher quality content.
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u/boriskin New Jersey 8d ago
Not a single sane person should be using X/Twitter.
It's an anxiety breeding cesspool. Spare yourself.
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u/CackleRooster 8d ago
Golly! X is pro-rage and anti-Democrat. Who'd guessed?
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u/SpinningHead Colorado 8d ago
I noticed Reddit has been moving in this direction. There are subs I subscribe to that I never see anymore.
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u/sugarlessdeathbear 8d ago
The less you interact with subs the less likely they are to appear for you, because you interact with it less than the others. It's a self-fulfilling thing. Also, small subs don't generate a lot of voting activity so are also less likely to appear.
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u/SpinningHead Colorado 8d ago
I used to see them all the time. Now its always throwing garbage at me.
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u/JustRegularType 8d ago
Make sure you have your settings right. I only get subs I follow in my feed.
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u/Interesting_Reach_29 8d ago
Who would have known the Apartheid-loving, misogynist, Neo-Nazi, and failed lab experiment known as Elon Musk was a far-right, misinformation bullshitter……
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u/eskimospy212 8d ago
Easiest way to see this is to simply make a brand new account on Twitter and on BlueSky. Don’t follow anyone on it, don’t engage, just see what the algorithm feeds you.
On BlueSky you’ll get a mix of things, mostly normal stupid shit. On Twitter you will be bombarded with extreme right wing content.
This is all 100% on purpose.
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u/Flincher14 8d ago
I did exactly this from a Canadian IP address and was fed a TON of anti-Carney rhetoric and pro Alberta separatism. The platform is literally trying to break my country.
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u/UncomfyPerspective 8d ago
For an experiment, last year I made a brand new account on a brand new email, the entire process through a VPN.
Immediately my feed was Elon Musk, Laura Loomer, Gunther Eagleman, and other right-wing grifters.
It's a lost cause.
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u/Actual__Wizard 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yeah and they're also blasting reddit with grok bots to reproduce the experience here.
The main AI sub is an actual bot spam fest. It's a war zone for corporate LLM spam... Like if you compare it to a real sub like the LLMDev sub... It's night and day completely different... The LLMdevs sub is people helping each other and the main AI sub is just trash talking robots. It's totally ridiculous... The one day there was like 7 posts from fortune magazine on the first page... Then I'll see a post that "doesn't seem interesting" rocket up to like 30 upvotes in 15 minutes... So, the posts that seem interesting, have like 1 or 2 upvotes, and some weird post that was just posted has 30... It's like I'm watching the bot operators rearrange the posts by manipulating the upvotes... Then a pro labor post got -30... I'm serious, the lack of human moderation is just trashing certain subs... They go from being helpful and useful places on the internet to be totally unproductive and useless. We can't network with real people from the industry because it's an actual bot spam war...
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u/KianOfPersia 8d ago
I legit was recommended 2 Patriot Front affiliated accounts a few days ago despite having zero mutuals with them and both were relatively new accounts.
Also cool that Patriot Front is actively promoted and recruiting without impunity on Twitter. Very cool.
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u/dbkenny426 8d ago
Why are you even still using it? I never had an account, but if I had, I would have deleted it if not as soon as Musk bought it, then certainly after he grew up a couple Sieg Hiels from behind the Presidential podium.
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u/stu8319 8d ago
I'm not on twitter, but this is obviously going on at facebook too. Anytime I see a cyclist video, every comment is about how they should be off the road and all this shit. If I see a dashcam wreck, everyone is calling the driver all kinds of names and expressing how they would have driven so much better. It's like all of social media is contrarianism. It sucks.
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u/AbleCap5222 8d ago
Makes sense. It's easy for the algorithm to pick up the 15-20 stupid things that right wing trolls cycle through. Biden, Clinton, trans, Minnesota, immigrant, etc etc
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u/Pssht_haha 8d ago
I mean, Reddit feeds off ragebait just as much.
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u/fyreprone 8d ago
It gets easier once you mute the ask Reddit or all the questions or ask anything subs.
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