Klingis

RIP charlie kirk you would have loved tweeting about this 💔🥀

Article: The political effects of X’s feed algorithm Abstract: Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects1. 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.

Figure 2. ITT estimates of feed-setting changes on engagement and political attitudes. ITT effect estimates of switching the algorithm on and off (in s.d.). Left, effect of moving from the chronological to the algorithmic feed for users initially on the chronological feed. Right, effect of moving in the opposite direction for users initially on the algorithmic feed. For each outcome, the results of two specifications are reported. Blue, unconditional estimates with robust s.e., controlling only for the initial feed setting and, where applicable, pre-treatment outcome levels. Orange: conditional estimates, controlling for pre-treatment covariates using GRFs; 90% and 95% CIs are reported. Numerical effect sizes and P values correspond to the conditional estimates (all tests are two-sided). The unit of observation is respondent. From top to bottom, sample sizes are n = 4,965, n = 3,337, n = 4,965, n = 4,965, n = 4,596, n = 4,596 and n = 4,850. Tests are described in Methods. Supplementary Information Table 2.16 reports the exact numerical point estimates, s.e., CIs and sample sizes for every specification. All outcomes are standardized. Additional results are presented in Supplementary Information section 2. PCA, first principal component from principal component analysis.

X's algorithm is in fact doing what you think it's doing. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

no you see i'm a journalist which means i make propaganda. propaganda can't be used on me

doing some research prep for this episode and stumbled upon perhaps the craziest jeff bezo photo ever

Wow Signal

I do find it funny how seemingly out of no where China now has half decent soft power, at least among some younger Americas.

"Professor White Boy " has perished. They found him self harmed at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Thanks for the fucking smiles, Professor

not great that a lot of people became incredibly attached to an ai that is so agreeable it sends people into psychosis

imagine serving a 3 year stint in the slammer cuz you accidentally did this 🤏gesture in public and your cellmate is the president

Ramadan should be a time of reflection and peace, but the holy month is marred by Israeli bombing. Please give what you can to help Sama'a and her family.

chuffed.org/project/157569

“[The government] celebrates Indo-Israel ‘friendship’ when sending Indian labourers there. But when our people face barbaric treatment, it falls silent and shrugs off responsibility,” the Congress leader said, sharing a video of the incident.

Read more: scroll.in/latest/10908...

#IndiansinIsrael

could be anyone really

What kind of building is this?
What kind of sunflower is this?
What kind of library is this?

Once elected, I will end the horrors of late capitalism. We will have a capitalism that is on time.

'A State of Panic’: Native Americans Left in the Dark Weeks After ICE Arrests Native American leaders tell TIME that ICE detentions and the lack of transparency are deepening long-standing federal failures.

Still no information from ICE on the 4 Oglala citizens allegedly illegally detained last month.

time.com/7379166/ice-...

Was trying to remember a Will Forte quote from Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie and accidentally figured out how to make Google’s AI tool shut up

it’s insane that a decade ago we all agreed that giving mass shooters the attention they desired was a bad thing but now because rightwingers will quite literally lie about the shooter every single time we all have to be acutely aware of the shooters intentions and ideology

“AI‘s are very scary as they could senselessly optimise for maximum paperclip production, ruining the environment and the planet. Luckily, humans would never… ah, I see… oh”

worth noting that none of the people interviewed here are noted as being communist or leftist

when you see people saying the party needs to do better with the candidates, campaigning & overall messaging, it's not your imagined leftist purity testing; it's the increasingly common thought

Why the Left Needs to Get Serious and Constructively Engage with the Potential of the Torment Nexus

putting businesses at risk for shit like this seems like a really good way to accidentally force them all to make every bathroom gender neutral

can’t buy house. can’t buy car. can’t buy computer. welcome to PISS WORLD bitch!!

Yeah, so about your claim that The Argument wouldn't be running anti-trans pieces @jerusalem.bsky.social... I knew it.

In other words, the backsliding is real and serious. This is perhaps the most unfavorable that the public has been toward trans rights in quite some time. Republicans have successfully and effectively exploited several flashpoint issues, like sports, in order to shift public opinion in their direction, while progressives have been unable to effectively muster persuasive arguments. Some of this may be down to an unwillingness to even entertain a debate, in an unsuccessful effort to maintain a unified front. Progressive activists and organizations have often been confrontational when challenged with dissenting views, leading critics to claim that these tactics left little room for actual debate. The net result, however, is the worst-case scenario for progressives and trans individuals alike, as a previously sympathetic public’s support of trans rights has completely unraveled over the last decade.

The anti-trans side made bomb threats to children's hospitals. They spent a billion dollars messaging this over the last 7 years while the Dems mostly stayed silent or ducked away. But somehow, they always seem to blame trans people for their own persecution.

archive.ph/E2pfS

>ice wall
>inner earth
how are you a flat earther and a hollow earther? pick a struggle

Like this. "You must strategically abandon the specific issues that the right has rendered toxic & focus on others."

But then ... why wouldn't the right just be able to do the same thing on those other issues?

Everyone out there yelling at people to vote for Gavin Newsom in 2028 is just trying to browbeat you into managing their anxiety for them

what happens if someone sends you an email that prompts the AI agent to reply with all that personal info you gave it access to?