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| Facebook's algorithm change in 2018 benefitted Republican groups, researchers say Posted: 08 Jun 2022 05:46 PM PDT A 2018 change in Facebook's algorithm resulted in significant boosts in engagement for local Republican groups even though their Democratic counterparts posted more often, according to newly published research. The findings, first reported byNBC News, line up with one of the major revelations of the Facebook Papers. Namely, that a change meant to emphasize content from family and friends wound up making News Feed more divisive by incentivizing negative posts. The latest research, published in Research & Politics, used CrowdTangle data to measure engagement with posts from local Democratic and Republican groups on Facebook and Twitter between January 2016 and August 2021. The researchers found that by the fall of 2018, several months after Facebook announced its algorithm change, there was a significant uptick in engagement with Republican pages on Facebook that didn't occur on Twitter.
"We conclude that it seems possible that changes in how Facebook rated content led to a doubling of the total shares of local Republican party posts compared to local Democratic party posts in the first half of 2019 even though Democratic parties posted more often during this period," the paper's authors write. The researchers say it's "difficult" to know for sure what caused the shift toward the end of 2018. But they note that their findings broadly align with what we know about Facebook's algorithm change, and the reaction to it, thanks to the Facebook Papers. The company had announced a major change to News Feed's ranking systems in January 2018, in order to emphasize "meaningful social interactions" or MSI. But documents disclosed by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen indicate that by early 2019 publishers and political parties were raising questions about whether MSI was incentivizing negativity. "Of course without the actual algorithm we cannot say what caused the change in 2018," Kevin Reuning, one of the paper's authors wrote on Twitter. "We can say there was a change, specifically on Facebook, and that it impacted a large number of local Republican parties. We can also say the timing lines up with what others saw for FB's changes" In a statement to NBC News, Meta called the researchers' findings "implausible," saying differences in engagement could be attributed to other factors. "It doesn't add up with what MSI actually did, which was reduce the amount of public content — like that of political parties — on the platform," a company spokesperson said. "The trends here instead seem to coincide with a divisive election cycle, and since the differences between political parties in the U.S. have been growing for decades, the idea that a change to Facebook ranking would fundamentally shift how people choose to engage with political parties is implausible." |
| Apple created a subsidiary to handle Pay Later loans Posted: 08 Jun 2022 03:31 PM PDT When its Pay Later service launches alongside iOS 16 later this year, Apple plans to handle lending decisions on its own. According to Bloomberg, the tech giant has established a subsidiary called Apple Financing to conduct credit checks and customer approvals. The new firm will operate separately from Apple, but it has obtained the necessary state licenses to offer the feature. While Apple has dabbled in financial services before, it did so with the help of institutions like Goldman Sachs. The investment bank is still involved in Apple Pay Later. According to Bloomberg, the firm will issue the Mastercard payment credentials customers will use to complete purchases, but it won't handle lending and credit assessments like it currently does with Apple Card. The move sees Apple attempting to replicate a strategy that has worked for it in the past. The company has invested significant time and money to develop in-house versions for many of the components that power its computers and mobile devices. Outside of helping make its products more compelling to consumers, the strategy has allowed Apple to lessen its dependence on external suppliers like Intel and potentially increase its revenue. And it appears Apple hopes to achieve a similar outcome on the financial services front. According to Bloomberg, the company is working on its own payment processing engine as part of an initiative dubbed — not so subtly — "Breakout." It's also developing tools for fraud analysis and interest calculations, among other customer-facing features. As with Apple's push into subscriptions with services like TV+ and Fitness+, the company likely sees those efforts as a way to keep current iPhone, iPad and Mac customers tied to its ecosystem. |
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