Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing.

ABSTRACT: Many critics raise concerns about the prevalence of 'echo chambers' on social media and their potential role in increasing political polarization. However, the lack of available data and the challenges of conducting large-scale field experiments have made it difficult to assess the scope of the problem^1,2. Here we present data from 2020 for the entire population of active adult Facebook users in the USA showing that content from 'like-minded' sources constitutes the majority of what people see on the platform, although political information and news represent only a small fraction of these exposures. To evaluate a potential response to concerns about the effects of echo chambers, we conducted a multi-wave field experiment on Facebook among 23,377 users for whom we reduced exposu

SUBMITTER: Nyhan B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10396953 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature