A study reveals that X's algorithm now has an affinity for two things: Republicans and Elon Musk.
X promoted Musk's publications while he was participating in the electoral campaign.
Elon Musk may have influenced X's algorithm to increase the visibility of his account and other users with conservative leanings, right around the time he announced his support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. This claim is based on a study conducted by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which reveals that Musk's posts experienced a significant increase in popularity.
The authors of the study, Timothy Graham, an associate professor of digital media at QUT, and Mark Andrejevic, a professor of communication and media studies at Monash University, analyzed Musk's engagement on the platform before and after his endorsement of Trump in July. Starting from July 13, Musk's posts received 138% more views and 238% more retweets compared to earlier periods.
The researchers noted that Musk's metrics surpassed the general participation trends observed across the rest of the platform. This study is not the first to suggest that X may have adjusted its algorithm to specifically favor Musk's posts. Additionally, they found that other accounts with Republican inclinations also experienced similar growth, albeit to a lesser extent.
The results of this study are consistent with recent findings reported by various media outlets regarding a possible bias toward the right in X's algorithms. However, the researchers mentioned that they encountered limitations due to the "relatively small amount of data" they were able to collect, as the platform restricted access to its Academic API. They added that while they did not observe indications of missing data, there is no guarantee that 100% of the posts were collected.
