In this project we aim to research alternative content recommendation algorithms for social media platforms. Social media platforms are central for exchange of information in today's societies. Yet evidence is mounting that they play a causal role in deteriorating social cohesion and civic discourse. User behaviour on social media platforms is governed by content recommendation algorithms that maximise engagement, leading to unintended consequences such as the promotion of outrage or strongly emotionalised content. The EU’s newly enacted Digital Services Act mandates social media platforms to assess and reduce their systemic risks for society – for example by adapting their content recommendation algorithms. The abstract risks, such as the risk to civic disourse however first need to be translated into concrete changes in content recommendation algorithms. In this project we aim to bridge this gap by combining approaches from social science and computer science to incorporate the reduction of risk to civic discourse into content recommendation algorithms of social media platforms.

To this end, we will employ a participation-based approach to develop novel algorithms that consider various aspects of civic discourse, such as information quality and diversity, and the civility of language. To experiment with new algorithms, we will develop Open Source digital twins of social media platforms since experimentation with new algorithms on live social media platforms independent of the permission and influence of platform companies is impossible. Next to the reduction of risk to civic discourse we aim to balance interventions in algorithms with freedom of expression. To this end, we will solicit people’s preferences in different scenarios such as a public health crisis and elections, and develop balanced algorithms. Ultimately, our research will hopefully inform recommendations for the regulation of social media platforms under the Digital Services Act and help transform social media platforms into a technology that is positive for society.

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