Disturbing reason X keeps showing you posts you hate revealed in new study

Algorithms. Can't live with them, can't live without them. Social media platforms are notoriously cagey about their own ones, and we'll be damned if we're going to pretend we understand how they work.

Basically, algorithms feed you a conveyor belt of content that social media giants think will be relevant to you. That might feel great when you're shown hilarious TikTok videos, local dining spots you need to try out, and can keep up with all the latest news when it comes to your favorite celebrity, but why does it sometimes feel like we're being fed a bunch of nonsense? Worse than that, why are there continued complaints that X shovels a bunch of ragebait our way?

Apparently, there could be a good reason for it.

Does X purposefully feed us ragebait?

Since taking over Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk has been accused of driving the platform into the ground by overhauling how the old Twitter blue system works, removing the ability to fully block, and allowing hate speech to flow.

This affects both ends of the political spectrum, with the left and the right arguing that they're being bombarded with content that doesn't align with their views. Musk vowed to reveal exactly how the X algorithm works by making it open source, with it now possible to even see whether you've been shadowbanned.

As for the idea that we're gobbling ragebait as part of some evil master plan, a study titled "Value misalignment of X’s feed algorithm is a reflection of value tensions in engagement" has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Researchers suggest that X's algorithm prioritizes engagement on the For You Page (FYP), while users who identify as Democrats are apparently served more ragebait.

The report was shared by 404 Media, with Ziv Epstein, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and paper co-author, saying the headline isn't that surprising in 2026.

Epstein explained: "So we actually dug in a little deeper to figure out why this is actually happening, and it turns out that X's feed algorithm, like a lot of these social media algorithms, is optimized for engagement [but] it turns out that not all types of engagement are considered equally."

Recruiting a sample of 715 Americans and installing an extension that downloaded their FYP in September and October 2024, participants were quota-matched on ethnicity, gender, and partisanship.

Epstein and researchers used the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values, which is a values inventory presented as a wheel. There are 19 points that correspond to features, including tolerance, dominance, hedonism, and openness to change.

Collating the results, the study noted: "There is an overall negative correlation (misalignment) between users’ explicit values and the values in content that the algorithm is more likely to amplify."

Why does the X algorithm work in this way?

Notably, while many might simply move on from something they don't like appearing in their feed, others will rush to the replies to fight it. No matter what you say, it's thought that X reads a reply as a reply and might think you're interested in this kind of content.

From that point forward, you’re supposedly doomed to be funnelled this kind of content you strongly disagree with.

Although most participants would like or reshare a post they were interested in, replies represented just 6.8% of the interactions but had an overwhelming impact on the algorithm.

Epstein points to evidence of algorithms prioritizing replies and learning from this 'rarer form of engagement', adding: "So it’s this feedback loop of outrage baiting. The algorithm learns that you get outraged and then continues to serve more content in that direction and that seems to be particularly true of the Democratic users of our study."

More research needs to be done on why Democrats appear to be ragebaited more than Republicans, although some are sure to argue it's because more right-wing content appears on X. Those on the right are likely to maintain it's the opposite.

Although X didn't return 404's request for comment, former head of product Nikita Bier confirmed that while the algorithm had once favored replies, "This is no longer true."

Bier concluded: "The largest contributor of seeing ragebait was the reply predictor and we were aware that angry replies were causing people to see more of that content. So last month, we gave the reply predictor a 15x boost if it’s a friend’s post — and it reduced ragebait by [an] order of magnitude."