Tool that Reorders X Feed Reduces Partisan Rancor ^{CEFR B1}

A team of researchers built a web extension that uses a large language model to scan an X feed for antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity, like calls for violence or jailing opponents. The tool reorders posts so that targeted content appears lower or higher in the feed; it works in a matter of seconds and does not remove any posts.

In experiments about 1,200 volunteers used the extension over ten days during the 2024 election. Separate seven-day trials compared groups that saw content downranked, upranked, or left unchanged as a control.

Participants who saw antidemocratic content downranked reported warmer feelings toward people in the opposing party. The effect appeared for both people who identified as liberals and those who identified as conservatives. Researchers measured attitudes on a 1 to 100 scale and found an average improvement of two points for the downranked group.