By Owen Carpenter-Zehe,

 

BRUSSELS, 13 March. - (ANA) - Sensational, unverifiable, opinion-based, and mostly rightwing, political content dominates the social media feeds of young adults, according to a new study published Tuesday (10 March).

 

The investigation was commissioned by Helsinki-based think-tank Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund) and accountable to Finland’s parliament, and looks into the type of political content that is algorithmically served to 18-24 year-olds. 

 

The team created online avatars in Finland, France, and Romania to see what political content the ‘fake’ young adults encountered on Instagram, TikTok, and X.

 

They also asked actual young people for their thoughts on the matter.

 

They found that 67 percent of the political content surveyed was unverifiable, opinion-based entertainment — such as memes or AI-generated videos — which were often sensational, polarising, or extremist.

 

“Such content does not violate platform rules and cannot be fact-checked. However, when this type of political content becomes dominant on social media, it creates an environment in which constructive civic discussion is difficult,” said Ilkka Räsänen, head of EU affairs at Sitra, launching the study.

 

The potential impact of political algorithmic manipulation is serious among young people, as the 2024 European Parliament youth survey found that social media was the top source of political and social information for 42 percent of young people in the EU.

 

On average, those 18-24 year-olds surveyed use social media five to six hours a day, with many also reporting “negative” emotions when encountering political content.

 

The Helsinki study also corroborates other recent findings that social media platforms will feed users more rightwing content: 58 percent of the posts served across the platforms were rightwing, 26 percent leftwing, and 16 percent centrist. 

 

The Romanian feed was the most politically balanced of the three studied countries. 

 

The researchers point out that the algorithm’s behaviour recommendation is often erratic and opaque, with little user control. For example, the rightwing bent persisted even when some of the invented users signalled they wanted leftwing content.

 

The EU has digital laws that require online platforms to assess and mitigate potential risks to humans and society, and the researchers call for greater enforcement of these rules to help preserve real discourse on the platforms.   - (ANA) - 

 

AB/ANA/13 March 2026 - - -