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@barbbab

Fan of science, historical fiction & chocolate. Evidence > anecdotes. Tired of misinformation & hypocrisy. She/her

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19.11.2024
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Latest posts by @barbbab

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Alberta’s Tax Advantage Is Being Paid For by Your Property Tax Bill I am sitting here running code to pull and process British Columbia property tax data for a project Gillian Petit and I are doing on property tax regressivity across Canadian provinces — work that …

Alberta Budget 2026 didn't raise taxes. It just raised your property taxes — the one tool the province left municipalities, then spent years criticizing them for using. Wrote about it.

deadfortaxreasons.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/a...

04.03.2026 20:13 👍 45 🔁 30 💬 4 📌 2
The political effects of X's feed algorithm
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2
Received: 16 December 2024
Accepted: 4 January 2026
Published online: 18 February 2026
Open access
• Check for updates
Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m
Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects.
Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

The political effects of X's feed algorithm https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10098-2 Received: 16 December 2024 Accepted: 4 January 2026 Published online: 18 February 2026 Open access • Check for updates Germain Gauthier,5, Roland Hodler?5, Philine Widmer35 & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya3,4,5 m Feed algorithms are widely suspected to influence political attitudes. However, previous evidence from switching off the algorithm on Meta platforms found no political effects'. Here we present results from a 2023 field experiment on Elon Musk's platform X shedding light on this puzzle. We assigned active US-based users randomly to either an algorithmic or a chronological feed for 7 weeks, measuring political attitudes and online behaviour. Switching from a chronological to an algorithmic feed increased engagement and shifted political opinion towards more conservative positions, particularly regarding policy priorities, perceptions of criminal investigations into Donald Trump and views on the war in Ukraine. In contrast, switching from the algorithmic to the chronological feed had no comparable effects. Neither switching the algorithm on nor switching it off significantly affected affective polarization or self-reported partisanship. To investigate the mechanism, we analysed users' feed content and behaviour. We found that the algorithm promotes conservative content and demotes posts by traditional media. Exposure to algorithmic content leads users to follow conservative political activist accounts, which they continue to follow even after switching off the algorithm, helping explain the asymmetry in effects. These results suggest that initial exposure to X's algorithm has persistent effects on users' current political attitudes and account-following behaviour, even in the absence of a detectable effect on partisanship.

A new paper shows that less than 2 months of exposure to Twitter’s algorithmic feed significantly shifts people’s political views to the right.

Moving from chronological feed to the algorithmic feed also increases engagement.

This is one of the most concerning papers I’ve read in awhile.

19.02.2026 18:57 👍 6413 🔁 3197 💬 158 📌 402
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06.12.2025 18:11 👍 461 🔁 152 💬 13 📌 14
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456,365 #ForeverCanadian signatures (plus few dozen last minute arrivals). I’m told it’s the biggest petition in Canada’s history.

None of this would happen if not for thousands of volunteers and your love for Canada.🇨🇦

Thank you! This is Alberta’s and Canada’s victory.

28.10.2025 20:29 👍 372 🔁 118 💬 22 📌 17
Preview
A shadow war on libraries Some Canadian politicians and influencers, inspired by an American-born movement, are trying to roll back 2SLGBTQ+ rights in Canada — one book at a time.

A shadow war on libraries

Some Canadian politicians and influencers, inspired by an American-born movement, are trying to roll back 2SLGBTQ+ rights in Canada — one book at a time.

www.cbc.ca/newsinteract...

07.02.2025 12:33 👍 286 🔁 166 💬 29 📌 29

It is VERY important to note that "contrarian voices" about vaccines & public health have NOT been "left out of the conversation."

On the contrary, disproven & simply wrong ideas have become a DOMINANT part of public discourse, influencing public opinion & policy.

30.01.2025 02:44 👍 294 🔁 80 💬 3 📌 3

Yes! People might want to check out the settings for a way to improve your alt-text inclusion rate:

Settings --> Accessibility --> ✅Require alt text before posting

24.01.2025 00:16 👍 11 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Globe editorial: Speeding is the problem, not speed cameras Lead-footed drivers shouldn’t feel aggrieved that they have to obey the law

Speeding is the problem, not speed cameras. Is it really unfair to be expected to obey the law? www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit... via @theglobeandmail.com

13.01.2025 13:10 👍 73 🔁 13 💬 8 📌 2

New here. Migrating from Twitter.

27.12.2024 15:34 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0