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Facebook’s algorithm doesn’t alter people’s beliefs: research

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Meta, whose corporate offices in Menlo Park, California, are seen here, welcomed the research
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Do social media echo chambers deepen political polarization, or simply reflect existing social divisions?

A landmark research project that investigated Facebook around the 2020 US presidential election published its first results Thursday, finding that, contrary to assumption, the platform’s often criticized content-ranking algorithm doesn’t shape users’ beliefs.

The work is the product of a collaboration between Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — and a group of academics from US universities who were given broad access to internal company data, and signed up tens of thousands of users for experiments.

The academic team wrote four papers examining the role of the social media giant in American democracy, which were published in the scientific journals Science and Nature.

Overall, the algorithm was found to be “extremely influential in people’s on-platform experiences,”  said project leaders Talia Stroud of the University of Texas at Austin and Joshua Tucker, of New York University.

In other words, it heavily impacted what the users saw, and how much they used the platforms.

“But we also know that changing the algorithm for even a few months isn’t likely to change people’s political attitudes,” they said, as measured by users’ answers on surveys after they took part in three-month-long experiments that altered how they received content.

The authors acknowledged this conclusion might be because the changes weren’t in place for long enough to make an impact, given that the United States has been growing more polarized for decades.

Nevertheless, “these findings challenge popular narratives blaming social media echo chambers for the problems of contemporary American democracy,” wrote the authors of one of the papers, published in Nature.

– ‘No silver bullet’  – 

Facebook’s algorithm, which uses machine-learning to decide which posts rise to the top of users’ feeds based on their interests, has been accused of giving rise to “filter bubbles” and enabling the spread of misinformation.

Researchers recruited around 40,000 volunteers via invitations placed on their Facebook and Instagram feeds, and designed an experiment where one group was exposed to the normal algorithm, while the other saw posts listed from newest to oldest.

Facebook originally used a reverse chronological system and some observers have suggested that switching back to it will reduce social media’s harmful effects.

The team found that users in the chronological feed group spent around half the amount of time on Facebook and Instagram compared to the algorithm group.

On Facebook, those in the chronological group saw more content from moderate friends, as well as more sources with ideologically mixed audiences.

But the chronological feed also increased the amount of political and untrustworthy content seen by users.

Despite the differences, the changes did not cause detectable changes in measured political attitudes.

“The findings suggest that chronological feed is no silver bullet for issues such as political polarization,” said coauthor Jennifer Pan of Stanford.

– Meta welcomes findings –

In a second paper in Science, the same team researched the impact of reshared content, which constitutes more than a quarter of content that Facebook users see.

Suppressing reshares has been suggested as a means to control harmful viral content.

The team ran a controlled experiment in which a group of Facebook users saw no changes to their feeds, while another group had reshared content removed.

Removing reshares reduced the proportion of political content seen, resulting in reduced political knowledge — but again did not impact downstream political attitudes or behaviors. 

A third paper, in Nature, probed the impact of content from “like-minded” users, pages, and groups in their feeds, which the researchers found constituted a majority of what the entire population of active adult Facebook users see in the US.

But in an experiment involving over 23,000 Facebook users, suppressing like-minded content once more had no impact on ideological extremity or belief in false claims.

A fourth paper, in Science, did however confirm extreme “ideological segregation” on Facebook, with politically conservative users more siloed in their news sources than liberals.

What’s more, 97 percent of political news URLs on Facebook rated as false by Meta’s third-party fact checking program — which AFP is part of — were seen by more conservatives than liberals.

Meta welcomed the overall findings. 

They “add to a growing body of research showing there is little evidence that social media causes harmful… polarization or has any meaningful impact on key political attitudes, beliefs or behaviors,” said Nick Clegg, the company’s president of global affairs.

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ByteDance says ‘no plans’ to sell TikTok after US ban law

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A new US law requires TikTok to sever all ties with its Chinese parent ByteDance or face a ban in the United States
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Chinese tech giant ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok after a new US law put it on a deadline to divest from the hugely popular video platform or have it banned in the United States.

US lawmakers set the nine-month deadline on national security grounds, alleging that TikTok can be used by the Chinese government for espionage and propaganda as long as it is owned by ByteDance.

The Information, a tech-focused US news site, reported that ByteDance was looking at scenarios for selling TikTok without the powerful secret algorithm that recommends videos to its more than one billion users around the world.

ByteDance denied it was considering a sale.

“Foreign media reports about ByteDance exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” the company posted Thursday on Toutiao, a Chinese-language platform it owns.

“ByteDance does not have any plans to sell TikTok.”

TikTok has been a political and diplomatic hot potato for years, first finding itself in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump’s administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.

It has forcefully denied any link to the Chinese government, and said it has not and will not share US user data with Beijing.

TikTok says it has also spent around $1.5 billion on “Project Texas”, under which US user data would be stored in the United States.

Its critics say the data is only part of the problem, and that the TikTok recommendation algorithm — the “secret sauce” for its success — must also be disconnected from ByteDance.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has said the company will take the fight against the new law to the courts, but some experts believe that for the US Supreme Court, national security considerations could outweigh free speech protection.

– Bullish investors –

The estimated valuations of TikTok are in the tens of billions of dollars, and any forced sale would present major complications.

Among those with deep enough pockets, US tech giants such as Instagram-parent Meta or Google would likely be blocked from buying the app over competition concerns.

Further, many investors consider TikTok’s recommendation algorithm to be its most valuable feature.

But any sale of such technology by a Chinese company would require approval from Beijing, which designated such algorithms as protected technology following Trump’s attempt to ban TikTok in 2020.

Beijing has so far vocally opposed any forced sale of TikTok, saying it will take all necessary measures to protect Chinese companies.

While TikTok is a global phenomenon, it represents a small fraction of ByteDance’s revenue, according to analysts and investors. 

ByteDance has enjoyed explosive growth in recent years, becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world. Its international investors, including US firms General Atlantic and SIG as well as Japan’s SoftBank, have stakes worth billions.

“TikTok US is a very small part of the overall business. It is an exciting part of the story, for sure, but… relative to the overall size, it’s a very small part,” ByteDance investor Mitchell Green, of US-based Lead Edge Capital, told CNBC television last month.

“If it was kicked out of the US, we would not sell.”

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Five things we learned at the China Auto Show

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The consumer tech giant is the latest entrant to China's cut-throat EV market, with its new SU7 model the star of the show
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One of China’s largest auto shows kicked off in Beijing on Thursday, with electric vehicle makers keen to show off their latest designs and high-tech accessories to consumers in the fiercely competitive market.

Here are the key developments from Auto China’s first day of action:

– Xiaomi –

The consumer tech giant is the latest entrant to China’s cut-throat EV market, with its new SU7 model the star of the show.

Less than one month after its launch, almost 76,000 pre-orders have been placed, Xiaomi said, an accumulation of orders that will take months to deliver given its current production capacity.

Xiaomi boss Lei Jun was swarmed at Auto China on Thursday by legions of loyal fans, eager to follow the entrepreneur’s every move around the convention complex.

– XPeng –

Among car giant Tesla’s main rivals in the Chinese market is XPeng, which announced plans to begin large-scale deployment of AI-assisted driving in its vehicles in May.

“The AI learns the driver’s habits and can then imitate their driving” and enhance security, company boss He Xiaopeng told an audience while presenting the X9, a seven-seater “so spacious it can accommodate five bicycles in its trunk”.

– CATL –

Also present at the show was Chinese battery giant CATL, founded in 2011 in the eastern city of Ningde and now the undisputed global leader in EV batteries.

Its factories produce more than a third of car batteries sold worldwide and are equipped in models from a long line of foreign manufacturers including Mercedes, BMW, VW, Tesla, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

Responding Thursday to one of the main criticisms of EVs — long charging times that restrict mobility — CATL announced a remedy: “Shenxing Plus”, an ultra-fast battery pack that the firm says earns one kilometre (0.62 miles) in range for every second of charging.

– Nio –

In contrast to much of the EV industry, Chinese automaker Nio focuses on battery-swap technology rather than recharging individual vehicles.

The Shanghai-based firm founded 10 years ago said Thursday it had accumulated nearly 2,500 battery swapping points across China.

Nio also presented its ET7, a sedan model the firm claims has a range of 1,000 kilometres.

– Tencent-Toyota alliance –

Japanese auto-making juggernaut Toyota also announced Thursday that it would join hands with Chinese tech and gaming giant Tencent in AI, a bid to capitalise on local consumers’ increasing appetite for advanced smart car features.

The cooperation will apply to Toyota vehicles sold in China, said Toyota, which like other foreign manufacturers, has struggled to keep up in the ultra-competitive market as the industry shifts to electric.

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US to give Micron $6.1 bn for American chip factories

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US lawmakers have approved billions of dollars to support the onshoring of semiconductor production
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Micron is set to receive up to $6.1 billion in grants from the US government to help build its semiconductor plants in New York and Idaho, the White House said Thursday.

The award, to be announced by President Joe Biden as he travels to Syracuse, New York, is the latest in a series of efforts by Washington to bring semiconductor production back to the country.

The United States has been working to ensure its lead in the chip industry, especially with regards to the development of artificial intelligence — both on national security grounds and in the face of competition with China.

The investment will help Micron “bring back leading-edge memory chip manufacturing to the United States for the first time in 20 years,” Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate majority leader, told reporters.

The $6.1 billion in direct funding comes under the CHIPS and Science Act, a major package of funding and tax incentives passed by Congress in 2022 to boost research and US semiconductor production.

The White House said the funds will go to supporting construction of two facilities in Clay, New York, and one in Boise, Idaho, where Micron is headquartered.

The US Commerce Department will also make up to $7.5 billion in proposed loans available under a preliminary deal.

Micron is set to invest up to $125 billion across both states over the next two decades “to build a leading-edge memory manufacturing ecosystem,” according to the White House.

The US chipmaker’s total investment is due to create more than 70,000 jobs, including 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing roles.

– Supply chain shocks –

While semiconductors were invented in the United States, the White House noted that the country makes just around 10 percent of the world’s chips now — and “none of the most advanced ones.”

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra called the step a “historic moment” for US semiconductor manufacturing, saying its US investments will “create many high-tech jobs.”

“Leading-edge memory chips are foundational to all advanced technologies,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

She added that returning the development and production of advanced memory semiconductor technology to the country is “crucial for safeguarding our leadership on artificial intelligence and protecting our economic and national security.”

Chips are needed in powering everything from smartphones to fighter jets, and are increasingly in demand by automakers, especially for electric vehicles.

But the global chip industry is dominated by just a few firms, including TSMC in Taiwan and California-based Nvidia.

The United States is dependent on Asia for chip production, making it vulnerable to supply chain shocks, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic or in the event of a major geopolitical crisis.

“We’re already seeing AI revolutionize our world and grow at an unprecedented pace,” said Schumer. 

“We cannot, cannot have these chips made overseas, especially by competitors like China. We cannot have them be the only supplier,” he added.

Apart from the grants to Micron, Biden is also expected to announce four new “workforce hubs” in the Upstate New York region, the state of Michigan, as well as the cities of Philadelphia and Milwaukee.

According to senior government officials, such hubs are a way to spur more commitments from employers and educational institutions.

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