The Lacuna Project

lacuna (n.) a gap in a record where something should be

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Exhibit 726

Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing

Exhibit 726 ยท Peer-reviewed study

Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing

had no measurable effects on eight preregistered attitudinal measures such as affective polarization, ideological extremity, candidate evaluations and belief in false claims.

Field experiment, 23,377 users; like-minded-source exposure cut by about one-third.

Source
Nyhan, Settle, Thorson, Wojcieszak, Barbera, Chen et al. (Nature)
Date
27 July 2023
Quoted from
Abstract
Grade
Peer-reviewed
Document
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06297-w
Accessed
2026-11-09
Cited by
Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding POL-3.8
Peer-reviewed In randomized experiments run with Meta during the 2020 election, switching users to chronological feeds, removing reshares, reducing exposure to like-minded sources and deactivating accounts changed what users saw and produced no significant change in polarization.