{"id":8541,"date":"2021-10-22T16:39:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T16:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1370762"},"modified":"2021-10-22T16:39:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T16:39:44","slug":"conservatives-say-twitter-suppresses-their-voices-twitter-says-it-amplifies-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=8541","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives say Twitter suppresses their voices. Twitter says it amplifies them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s tough being a conservative on Twitter. Everywhere you look, those damn liberals are censoring right-wingers for dropping truth bombs based on facts, not feelings. <\/span><\/p>\n

At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve heard from conservative pundits<\/a> and politicians<\/a>.  <\/span>The reality, however, appears to be rather different.<\/span><\/p>\n

A new study<\/a> by Twitter found that the platform\u2019s algorithms<\/a> actually amplify<\/em> right-wing voices.<\/span><\/p>\n

The research revealed that tweets from right-wing politicians and news outlets are both amplified on Twitter\u2019s algorithmically ranked Home timeline. However, the social network isn\u2019t sure why.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rumman Chowdhury, the head of Twitter\u2019s machine learning, ethics, transparency and accountability team, tweeted that the company will now investigate the causes:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Twitter is a sociotechnical system \u2014 our [algorithms] are responsive to what\u2019s happening. What\u2019s next is a root cause analysis \u2014 is this unintended model bias? Or is this a function of what and how people tweet, and things that are happening in the world? Or both?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Twitter is a sociotechnical system \u2013 our algos are responsive to what\u2019s happening. What\u2019s next is a root cause analysis \u2013 is this unintended model bias? Or is this a function of what & how people tweet, and things that are happening in the world? Or both? 6\/n<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rumman Chowdhury (@ruchowdh) October 21, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The first part of the study examined millions of tweets by elected officials in seven countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US).<\/p>\n

In every country other than Germany, tweets from accounts on the political right received higher algorithmic amplification than those the political left when studied as a group.<\/p>\n

Notably, however, the recommender systems did not amplify extreme ideologies over more moderate ones. Per the study paper:<\/p>\n

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We found that in countries where far-left or far-right parties have substantial representation among elected officials (e.g. VOX in Spain, Die Linke and AfD in Germany, LFI and RN in France) the amplification of these parties is generally lower than that of moderate\/centrist parties in the same country.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/i><\/a>The researchers used public, third-party sources, such as official institutional websites, to identify the account\u2019s political party affiliation.<\/span> Credit: Twitter<\/figcaption>