Behaviour | Joining Dots

Beware the 25 percent*

June 11, 2023 / Sharon Richardson / No Comments

I came across two articles today that mentioned 25 percent as the number of people supporting a strongly partisan (i.e. unreliable) view. In both cases, the research has taken place in the USA so may or may not be applicable elsewhere.

First, a book review describing how the US Supreme Court has been using a rather undemocratic ‘Shadow Docket’ procedure to advance a rightwing agenda – The Shadow Docket review: how the US supreme court keeps the sunlight out. In the wake of the controversial overturning of Roe v Wade, it seems just 25 percent of Americans have confidence in the Supreme Court. And not without reason it seems…

Second, an article outlining new research that shows search algorithms are not (entirely) to blame for people developing increasingly extreme views about subjects – The partisans beyond the filter bubble. It has often been assumed that the personalisation of content recommendations by algorithms creates an echo chamber. You click one link to a partisan site, you’ll be served up a bunch more, and your viewpoint will become increasingly partisan. It’s all the algorithm’s fault. But it turns out not to be the case. Research shows that not everyone follows this behaviour pattern. In reality, most people do not continue to engage with unreliable sites. Guess how many do? Yup, roughly 25 percent. The research is US-based, and the demographics appear to skew towards ageing right-wingers…

So, I could be making a huge spurious correlation, but it seems about 1 in 4 people are more likely to pick extreme and unreliable content and will then share it with anyone and anyone. The algorithms amplify the opportunities to view unreliable content, and yes that is problematic, but it is a relatively small group of people actively engage and spread the word. If you’ve been exposed to unreliable content, it is more likely that a person shared it with you than an algorithm promoted it. As commented in the second article:

There’s a relatively small group who are attracted to trouble, and very probably spread what they find around, creating friction even with those who broadly agree with them…
Charles Arthur, Social Warming