When Elon Musk acquired Twittermany wondered how he would handle the delicate balance between free speech and algorithmic control. According to him, he was going to ensure that there were no obstacles to any message.
Today, with his public support for Donald Trump and direct collaboration with his government, we have learned that the algorithm of the current X changed since July 2024 to favor voices that supported the speech of the new elected President of the United States.
Are we facing a case of digital manipulation or a legitimate effort to democratize discourse? The question not only challenges users, but also raises ethical and political questions in an electoral cycle with a multitude of votes around the world that will come in the coming months.
The algorithm underwent changes that reinforced Trump’s message
According to a new study from the Queensland University of Technology, since July, X modified its algorithm to prioritize posts that highlight “conservative values.” This adjustment would have generated more interactions for Republican candidates and narratives aligned with this ideology.
The study is based on how some conservative profiles (starting with Musk’s) have received a boost in visibility since that date.
The study’s authors first analyzed Musk’s involvement before and after his support for Trump in July. According to the authors, as of July 13, Musk’s posts received 138% more views and 238% more retweets than before that date.
Musk’s numbers “outperformed the overall engagement trends seen across the platform,” they conclude.
This work is not the first to suggest that X adjusted his algorithm to boost Musk’s account, but this time the researchers also discovered than other Republican-leaning accounts that saw similar increases starting in July, although to a lesser extent.
The results of the study are similar to others recently published by The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post about possible right-wing biases in X’s algorithms. However, the researchers say that were limited by the “relatively small amount of data” that they were able to collect since the platform cut off access to its academic API.
A new chapter in the relationship between politics and technology
The relationship between social media and politics has always been thorny. From Facebook’s intervention in 2016 to the Trump blocks in 2021platforms have become arenas for ideological struggles.
Musk’s endorsement of Trump is not only a political statement, but also a paradigm shift in how social platforms manage content visibility.
The digital parallel to this is the extent to which this plays in favor of Musk and his interests with X in a context in which more and more users are migrating to other networks, such as Bluesky or the Instagram alternative, Threads.
Between polarization and transparency
The reaction to the changes has not been long in coming. Technological and political analysts warn that these types of adjustments can exacerbate polarization. By highlighting certain voices over others, you risk creating ideological echo chambers, where users only consume content that reaffirms their beliefs.
On the other hand, defenders of Musk argues that this strategy balances the historical bias toward progressive narratives on social media.. However, experts call for greater transparency in how these changes are implemented and who defines what deserves more visibility.
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