Facebook has already been called out by the American Congress over its role in the polarisation of American political life. But at our level as ordinary users, are we really affected by Facebook’s posts? What is Facebook’s impact on the formation of our political opinions?
To get an idea, the director Thomas Huchon chose to run his experiment in 2019, the year of the European elections, with 6 student journalists from Sciences Po. Together, they created 6 fictional young profiles with diverging political opinions, and observed the Facebook pages of these different profiles. He also called on specialists and scientists to analyse the facts observed.
Friends and enemies :
It turns out that all the friends suggested by Facebook to the various profiles were users from the same political side as the fictional character concerned. Not users sharing a passion for the same sport or the same music, but for the same political party. And they found that, in each profile, an enemy clearly appeared, ranging from the government to the yellow vests to Islamic terrorists, depending on the political side. A closed circle, then, created by the algorithm.
Information bubbles :
To check this impression of the journalists factually, the first 10 posts appearing on each of the 6 profiles were studied for 30 days. The result was unequivocal : of 2,000 posts studied, 1,920 appeared on only 1 of the 6 profiles. Although not a large enough study for its conclusions to be generalised, it does confirm that the journalists’ feeling was right : Facebook plunged all 6 of them into an “information bubble”.
Hard to discern :
Moreover, despite the preliminary distance they had, the journalists felt they had to make an effort to stay detached so as not to sink into the ideology of their fake character. The specialists interviewed explain this by the effect of the information bubble, which gives a very partial view of reality ; by the difficulty of discerning reliable sources ; and by the highly emotional content favoured by the algorithm to hold users’ attention as long as possible for commercial purposes.
If these journalists, in a deliberate and controlled experiment, felt this impact on their view of the world, then everyone can ask themselves whether they are not themselves more affected than they care to believe.
This documentary is not an irrefutable scientific study, but it does not claim to be. It aims to be an awakener of consciences. It is a demonstration by example that a real, in-depth study of this particularly sensitive subject is necessary in order to arrive at suitable regulation to protect users and political systems. And in that sense, it achieves its goal.
To watch the documentary : https://www.spicee.com/content/la-nouvelle-fabrique-de-lopinion-1630
Hélène Blondel
