How X's paid verification has created echo chambers and divisive content ahead of general election
James Cox
Verification on Twitter used to be a sign of legitimacy, but since Elon Musk purchased the site, now X, anyone can purchase it.
This creates an issue where users can share divisive content online with unearned credibility to unsuspecting readers.
Over the general election camapign, parties and users alike shared content in the attempt to win votes and spread ideologies. New research 'Echo Chamber Formation Sharpened by Priority Users', from Munster Technological University, suggests that X’s verification model can intensify the polarisation on people's opinions and create echo chambers online.
Co author of the report, Assistant Lecturer Kleber Andrade, told BreakingNews.ie: "What we did was computer simulations to try to reproduce the feature on the platform. The ideal thing would be to take the data and analyse, but they have restricted the collection of data.
"What we found is prioritisation as we call it, basically someone being given increased reach, we found it can be used in unexpected ways. In some scenarious we have what we call an 'opinion model'. It doesn't allow for different voices, for a certain issue people can be either against or in favour. It goes from one extreme to the other."
Many of the far-right accounts on X that spread misinformation around issues like immigration, and direct abuse at elected officials and journalists, are verified, and Mr Andrade said verified accounts are "tipping the system".
Echo chambers
"In scenarios where the issues are very polarised, we see the formation of echo chambers. This new feature that increases reach for some users, has seen a committed minority which has increased reach, tipping the system into polarised situations faster than what you'd expect.
"Even though X's data is now restriced, it does not mean our model is completely theoretical, because there was data before so we used the model, and people also validated it against emprirical data.
"We think this is a reason to be very concerned about X.
"This committed minority of people have tipped the entire system. This idea also taps into a sociological theory that you can change a cultural norm once you reach a critical mass of people.
"This propogates across the entire system in collective behaviour."
Mr Andrade cited immigration as a key issue where polarisation and echo chambers occur.
Immigration
"This is how we would turn from the numbers into something practical. Immigraiton in particular can be a very polarising topic, so a lot of people have a very negative attitue towards it and other less so.
"During this particular time, with referendums or the general election, typically what would happen is the platform would start to be asked 'what are you doing around the election?' If you'd expect interference, you need to keep an extra eye.
"This is often the case in Ireland, even though the picture may be different from country to country with the likes of the US."
Overall, he said Elon Musk's impact on the platform has been unprecedented.
"His political views are very publicly known. Once he took over the platform, it's well known he was frustrated with his level of engagement, so he asked his employees and engineers to boost only his profile.
"If he injected his views to the platform, which are biased to one side, will help these to spread. Even with his posts focusing on the electoral process of the US, I would expect it to have some impact on the Irish election."