How the Secret Algorithms Behind Social Media Actually Work

How do the algorithms that populate our social media feeds actually work? In a piece for Time Magazine excerpted from his recent book Robin Hood Math, Noah Giansiracusa sheds light on the algorithms that platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X try to keep opaque. "Once we start clicking the social media equivalent of junk food, we’re going to be served up a lot more of it—which makes it harder to resist. So we click it more and the algorithm promotes it even more highly in our feeds. It’s a vicious cycle that can quickly turn our feeds into endless streams of digital dreck."