Louise Bernard with Alexis Patri 11:06 am, October 26, 2021
The social network Twitter unveils the results of a study conducted on its own algorithm, this internal tool supposed to choose for you the tweets that are most likely to interest you.
According to the conclusions of this study, the software of the social network suffers from a political bias: it favors right-wing publications.
Unlike Facebook, Twitter didn't wait for a former employee to leak information.
The social network with the little bird reveals itself the results of an internal study on the consequences of its algorithm, the software which selects in particular the tweets that you will have the most chance to see or not.
A proof of transparency rare enough to be highlighted.
Especially since the conclusions of the study are not favorable to the social network: its algorithm is not politically neutral.
In this case, it leans to the right.
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The right wing favored in 6 of the 7 countries studied
On Twitter, each user can choose to see the tweets appear in chronological order or by following the recommendation algorithm. This tool is supposed to better match publications that may be of interest to you. But in reality, in 6 of the 7 countries studied, the publications that come from accounts assimilated to the right (accounts of politicians or opinion media) are more highlighted. The only exception to the results of this study is Germany.
But this is indeed the case in France.
Their Republican Party posts appear most often on the homepage of Twitter users.
Closely followed by those of the Modem, then of the Republic in March.
Twitter does not, however, provide an explanation for this political bias.
The social network should however continue its research to better understand the behavior of its own algorithm.