The impact of social media algorithms on opinion formation

Focus on the results of a Central and Eastern European survey

Abstract

Social sites were initially used to facilitate networking, but due to their popularity, they soon outgrew their original function and became unavoidable actors in increasingly diverse areas of everyday life. One such area is receiving information, which can be significantly influenced by the personalised content on platforms. The results of a representative survey conducted at the end of 2019 in four regional countries (in addition to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania) clearly pointed out the dominant market position of Facebook and its interpretation as a potential news source for its users. Another important finding is that the majority only read the news appearing there, and the passive news consumption habits suggest that the information that appears on a social site can undeniably have a big impact on users’ perceptions of public debates. Thus, making the operation of the algorithms transparent cannot in itself be a meaningful solution to ensure the possibility of diverse orientation, for which the increase of the activity and awareness of the users will be essential.