X’s Algorithm Boosted Musk and Trump Supporters Before Elections

A Queensland University of Technology (QUT) study suggests that Elon Musk may have adjusted X’s algorithm to favor his account and other conservative-leaning users. This change appears to coincide with Musk’s July endorsement of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The study, conducted by QUT digital media associate professor Timothy Graham and Monash University communications and media studies professor Mark Andrejevic, analyzed Musk’s engagement levels before and after his Trump endorsement. Their findings reveal that beginning around July 13th, Musk’s posts saw a 138% increase in views and a 238% increase in retweets.

While other reports have hinted at similar adjustments, this QUT study provides new data. The researchers noted that Musk’s increased engagement “outpaced the general engagement trends observed across the platform.” Other examined Republican-leaning accounts also experienced increased engagement starting in July, though less dramatically than Musk’s.

These findings echo recent reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post regarding potential right-wing bias in X’s algorithms. The researchers acknowledge limitations due to restricted access to X’s Academic API, resulting in a smaller data set. While they believe the collected data is complete, they cannot guarantee 100% coverage of all posts.

This may have been one of the reasons X users became frustrated with the platform and migrated to rival app Bluesky during November. A recent report revealed that a plethora of US users moved over to Bluesky amid the election period once they became frustrated with X.

The X rival app gained an impressive 700,000 users within just a week.