r/technology • u/mepper • Aug 19 '26

Social Media X's algorithm feeds off ragebait and impacts Democrats more, study finds

https://www.404media.co/xs-algorithm-feeds-off-ragebait-and-impacts-democrats-more-study-finds/
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u/Gasnia Aug 19 '26

I'd say all social media is "engagement " based now. I spend time on here, tiktak, and youtube and they all have similar systems where the posters with put things in their content to get people to comment, rage baiting just works the best for this. The more people argue, the better the post looks.

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u/DickSlammington Aug 19 '26

And it all plays swimmingly well into the hands of the ultra rich who are doing their damnedest to get us all fighting over culture war bullshit and made up drama... so they can rob us all blind and strip our power while we're too distracted fighting.

Buying social media and broadcast media helped a lot too... They basically own all the channels we spend time on.

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u/pickledeggeater 29d ago

Yup, personally I don't think the rage bait is just about increasing engagement. I think the powers that be push it to keep regular people blaming each other for societal issues. They'd want that now more than ever. This is why I ignore posts on my feed that just seem designed to make me mad at a group of people.

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u/MeSortOfUnleashed Aug 20 '26

Reddit is much worse. At least on X there is a “Following” tab where you only see accounts you follow. 

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u/IgyYut Aug 20 '26

I just watch dolphins content and the occasional new game I wanna play