The election's X factor
Twitter And TikTok Users' Election Projections Are Completely Warped. Here's Why
Social media users are deploying a classic defense mechanism for their election anxiety.
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The Lede
If you open X or TikTok, you might be convinced that Vice President Kamala Harris is going to win the presidential election. Or, depending on what your feed looks like, you might see that Trump has it in the bag. In an election where national and swing-state polls have been neck and neck for weeks, voters are taking to X and TikTok to declare their candidate will win. Each individual post might not be so significant — if it weren't for powerful algorithms that relentlessly push such posts out to others.
Key Details
- People at the farthest ends of the ideological spectrum are most likely to post their views on social media, a 2021 study from the Pew Research Center found.
- Social platforms' algorithms reward "this strong confidence and extreme opinions and engenders extreme reactions," says Ioana Literat, an associate professor at Columbia University.
- Other social platforms have sought to disentangle themselves from this kind of divisive political speech. In recent years, Meta has pushed news out of Facebook feeds.
