NorCal Earth Creature

The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.

Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.

This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.

No. I want to go back in time and un-cancel the series but until we can do that it just needs to stay as it is.

TBF that title is exactly what she looks like.

My stepfather wrote an economics textbook with Matt Stone’s father.

I once sat behind him in a session about Harlan Ellison at a con.

When someone says „Scientists do not want you to know“ you can dismiss everything from there on. Scientists want you to know. They are desperate that you know. They can’t shut up about what they found out and want you to know.

If you can provide $3k checks for the entire middle class of America by taxing 900 people a little more, not only should you do it, but you should take it as a signal that your monetary system is broken

Magical realism painting of a bird with brown and white body, green back, dark wings, and yellow trailing crown feathers. Accompanied by two white butterflies in what looks like a green rainforest. Artist: Hannah Yata.

March 4, 2026
San Jose, CA
#TenMinMerlin
Accidental 1-hour

Orange-crowned Warbler
Song Sparrow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing
Dark-eyed Junco
Anna's Hummingbird
California Towhee
Black Phoebe
House Sparrow+Finch
Bewick’s Wren
American Crow+Robin
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chestnut-backed Chickadee

It’s a trap

Blumenthal: “Wouldn’t you agree that no U.S. citizen, simply working lawfully, should be arrested?”

Noem: “In law enforcement operations across the country there are times when U.S. citizens may be arrested or detained until their identity is confirmed and that they haven’t committed a crime.”

Close-up shot of white and dark gray bird in flight, from the side; a white-throated swift. Photo by Bob Walker, Macaulay Library.

March 3, 2026
San Jose, CA (central)
#TenMinMerlin
#DTSJ

Anna's Hummingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-throated Swift
American Crow
House Sparrow
House Finch

This is my favorite tweet. Of all time.

Trading on Violence Insider trading on prediction markets is turning into a dog-bites-man type of story.

On Polymarket, transactions are visible but identities are not. This invites not only insider trading but also, as recent events suggest, potential betting directly on & profiting from geopolitical violence, as CASBS fellow @rajivsethi.bsky.social explains

➡️ rajivsethi.substack.com/p/trading-on...

March 2, 2026
San Jose, CA (central)
#TenMinMerlin

Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Great-tailed Grackle
American Crow
House Sparrow
House Finch

Unelected bureaucrats led by Russell Vought at the Office of Management and Budget are destroying the scientific capabilities and credibility of the United States.

March 1, 2026
San Jose, CA
#TenMinMerlin

Bewick’s Wren
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Dark-eyed Junco
House Sparrow
House Finch

Merlin also says it caught a Hammond’s Flycatcher, but that would be rare. However, it seems a couple have been sighted within ~100 miles recently. So, I will keep an ear out.

“…dedicated to honoring the strongest and bravest voices in war. When power is projected abroad, it is only right that strength exists at home. If you’re looking for proven genes, inherited courage, and unquestionable resolve, look no further than the Trump family. Leadership starts somewhere.” 😆

Home | Draft Barron Trump

www.draftbarrontrump.com

Investigative Post obtained this video of Border Patrol abandoning Nurul Shah Alam, the nearly blind Burmese refugee who was found dead

www.investigativepost.org/2026/02/26/t...

NSF Intent to Restructure Critical Weather Infrastructure

The US NSF has put out a "dear colleagues" letter that is essentially a yard sale list for @ncar-ucar.bsky.social

It asks questions such as, who'd like to take over some of NCAR's programs? Is anyone interested in commercial use of the Mesa Lab?

If you have thoughts, send them to NSF_NCAR@nsf.gov

Moron says Harris would have gotten us into war with Iran and it would have been a nightmare

Same moron is really excited about the prospect of Trump attacking Iran

Just a reminder that most of the MAGA influencers don’t actually have any principles or positions on anything.

Whatever gets them clicks and engagement. It’s all a grift.

Kurt Vonnegut stop being so applicable to all time periods of American life, you can’t do that Kurt Vonnegut, your insights are too evergreen Kurt Vonnegut

How China is reporting on the Epstein Files.

By Hugo Boss, perhaps?

Póster with flowers, a skull, a peac sign, and an anarchy symbol, says Today’s Show! Static & Flow 8-10pm KKCR 91.9 Kauai worldwide at KKCR.org.

If you like good local radio and you’re up, check out my brother @gratefulhaole.bsky.social ‘s show Static &Flow! right now on KKCR.org.
- now til 12am Hawaii time #radio

Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Guantánamo Assignments While torture hasn’t been reported from the infamous facility, ICE shift reports note detainees are resorting to hunger strikes and self-harm.

ICE shift reports from Guantánamo note hunger strikes, self-harm and suicide watch among detainees. Many didn't know they were in Cuba until PHS nurses told them.

Elon Musk @elonmusk • 6h For a country to survive, there has to be a common culture. X Nobody dies to defend a "multicultural economic zone"! American culture, with its English-Scotts-Irish origin, is great and worth fighting for. Some may not realize it, but that's why people come here.

Black soldiers in WW2

Members of the Japanese American 442nd, the most decorated (and most wounded) military unit in US history

Navajo Code Talkers

Billionaire racist Elon Musk, erasing the fact that millions of “multicultural Americans” have died defending multicultural America, often while white supremacists like Elon Musk fought tooth and nail to deny them the basic civil rights accorded to white Americans.

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.