Study finds Facebook’s 2018 algorithm changes boosted local GOP groups

In 2018, changes to Facebook’s algorithms led to a significant uptick in activity by local Republican groups in the United States, even as their Democratic colleagues posted more often. NBC News reports.

Researchers from Research & Politics measured engagement with posts from local Democratic and Republican groups on social media from 2016–2021. They found that in 2018, several months after Facebook’s algorithm change, there was a significant surge in engagement with pages of the Grand Old Party on Facebook, which did not occur on Twitter.

“It is quite possible that changes to the content ranking led to a doubling of the total number of posts by local Republican cells compared with local Democratic posts in the first half of 2019, even though the latter posted more frequently in the same period,” the researchers said.

According to them, without access to the homepage ranking algorithm, it is hard to determine exactly what caused such a shift. However, experts noted that the findings align with previous investigations within the Facebook Papers.

A Meta spokesperson called the researchers’ findings “implausible” and erroneous.

“This does not align with what the algorithm actually did, namely — it reduced the amount of publicly available content, for example political content, on the platform,” said the company’s spokesperson.

He suggested that the surge in activity coincided with an election cycle, traditionally triggering “significant” disagreements between supporters of both political camps.

In October 2021, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen accused the social network of deliberate use of algorithms to incite hatred for profit.

In the same month, Facebook agreed to give regulators access to content ranking tools to prove their harmlessness.

At the end of October, amid the scandal, the corporation carried out a major rebranding, changing its name to Meta.

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