Social media platforms attempting to curb abuse and misinformation have been accused of political bias. We deploy neutral social bots who start following different news sources on Twitter, and track them to probe distinct biases emerging from platform mechanisms versus user interactions. We find no strong or consistent evidence of political bias in the news feed. Despite this, the news and information to which U.S. Twitter users are exposed depend strongly on the political leaning of their early connections. The interactions of conservative accounts are skewed toward the right, whereas liberal accounts are exposed to moderate content shifting their experience toward the political center. Partisan accounts, especially conservative ones, tend to receive more followers, find themselves in denser communities, and follow more automated accounts. Conservative accounts are also exposed to more low-credibility content.
翻译:试图遏制滥用和错误信息的社会媒体平台被指责为政治偏见。 我们部署中立的社会机器人,他们开始在Twitter上跟踪不同的新闻来源,并跟踪他们,以发现平台机制与用户互动之间的不同偏见。 我们没有发现任何强有力的或一致的证据表明在新闻反馈中存在政治偏见。 尽管如此,美国Twitter用户所暴露的新闻和信息在很大程度上取决于他们早期联系的政治倾向。 保守账户的相互作用向右倾斜,而自由账户则暴露在温和的内容中,将经验转移到政治中心。 Partisan账户,特别是保守账户,往往接收更多的追随者,发现自己在更稠密的社区,并跟踪更自动化的账户。 保守账户也暴露在更低廉的内容中。