Virality, algorithms and echo chambers: Can adjusting the feed diminish division online?

Almost three years later, the 2020 presidential election is hardly in the rearview mirror. Big questions remain about how algorithms spread polarizing content on the social media platforms that so many Americans turn to for news and information. For answers, academics across the country have been collaborating with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The result? Four studies that look at online polarization and ideological segregation among users on both platforms over three months during the 2020 election campaign. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with New York University’s Joshua Tucker, one of the academics who worked on these reports. He walked her through what he considers the top three findings.