After the Meta 2020 US Elections Research Partnership, What’s Next for Social Media Research?

Laura Edelson is an incoming Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University, and the former Chief Technologist of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Image by Alan Warburton / Better Images of AI / Social Media / CC-BY 4.0 Last week, four studies were published in Science and Nature that studied the impact of Facebook’s recommendation algorithm during the 2020 US presidential election. These studies have generated headlines because of what they did not find: significant differences in participants’ polarization were not detected during the three-month study window. However, the three studies that altered users’ algorithmic recommendations showed significant changes to the content in their feeds and to those users’ on-platform posting behavior.  These findings point to promising lines of future research. Still, neither Meta nor any other social media companies have committed to allowing such research on their platforms during the next election. To ensure social media research on topics from polarization to teen depression can continue to advance, Congress must pass the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act. Americans from all walks of life and both sides of the partisan divide are concerned about social media. Social and Computer Science researchers like me are racing to better understand why algorithms behave the way they do and what impact those algorithms have on users.  The studies published last week explored three facets of Facebook’s recommendation algorithm: the ranking algorithm used to prioritize which content to show users in their feeds, the impact of users’ friends’ behavior, and…After the Meta 2020 US Elections Research Partnership, What’s Next for Social Media Research?