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Elon Musk\u2019s X may have tweaked its algorithm to boost his account, along with those of other conservative-leaning users, starting around the time he announced his support<\/a> of Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign. That\u2019s according to a new study<\/a> published by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which found that Musk\u2019s posts in particular were suddenly much more popular.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The study\u2019s authors \u2014 QUT associate professor in digital media Timothy Graham and Monash University communications and media studies professor Mark Andrejevic \u2014 first looked at Musk\u2019s engagement before and after his July endorsement of Trump<\/a>. They report that starting around July 13th, Musks\u2019 posts received 138 percent more views and 238 percent more retweets than before that date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Musk\u2019s numbers \u201coutpaced the general engagement trends observed across the platform,\u201d they concluded. (This paper isn\u2019t the first time it\u2019s been suggested that X adjusted its algorithm<\/a> to specifically boost Musk\u2019s account<\/a>.) The researchers also found that other Republican-leaning accounts they examined saw similar boosts that started in July, albeit to a lesser degree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The study\u2019s results are similar to other recently reported findings by The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a> <\/em>and The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> <\/em>of potential right-wing bias in X\u2019s algorithms. However, the researchers say they were limited by the \u201crelatively small amount of data\u201d that could be collected since the platform cut off access to its Academic API<\/a>. They add that although they don\u2019t see indications of missing data, there\u2019s \u201cno guarantee that 100% of posts have been collected.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n