In this episode:

How tweaking social media algorithms affects polarization

Societies are becoming increasingly polarized, with people reportedly shunning those with differing political views. Social media is often thought to be exacerbating these divides, by creating echo chambers and filtering out dissimilar views. Many hoped that tweaking the algorithms that drive these platforms could reduce polarization. But, a group of studies show that such changes have little to no affect on polarization, implying that solutions to this issue are trickier than previously thought.

Research Article: Nyhan et al.

News and Views: Influence of Facebook algorithms on political polarization tested

News: Tweaking Facebook feeds is no easy fix for polarization

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Facebook ‘echo chamber’ has little impact on polarized views, according to study

Nature Podcast

Facebook ‘echo chamber’ has little impact on polarized views, according to study