Twitter algorithms amplify right-leaning political content on user timelines, study finds

Twitter’s ML Ethics, Transparency and Accountability (META) research team analysed the tweets posted by elected officials between April 1 and August 15, 2020. They also studied tweets containing links to news articles shared by people on Twitter.

Twitter has released a study that analyses if its recommendation algorithms amplify political content on users’ timeline and the reasons why it does that. Twitter’s ML Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability (META) research team analysed the tweets posted by elected officials between April 1 and August 15, 2020. These officials belonged to Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They also studied tweets containing links to news articles shared by people on Twitter. The analysts found that tweets posted by the political right were amplified more than those listed by the political left in all countries except Germany.