NEW: We analyzed a month of data from 100 of the most influential conservative & liberal twitter accounts, and found consistent evidence of huge conservative follower gains (plus liberal losses) after Musk's acquisition was announced. theverge.com/2022/4/27/2304… The results were surprisingly clear: of the 50 conservative accounts in our dataset, 48 saw disproportionate gains (10x usual amount) on April 25-26. Of the liberal accounts, every single one lost followers in the same time period.

NEW from me in @themarkup: Facebook claims its Widely Viewed Content reports bring clarity on what's most seen on the platform. In fact, they leave out key data that would show sensationalist, polarizing news outperforming mainstream sites:
themarkup.org/citizen-browse… This story takes a lead from @kevinroose's reporting with the @FacebooksTop10 account. FB has said that the use of CrowdTangle engagement data doesn't tell the full story, and that a different dataset (eventually provided in the WVC reports) would show otherwise.

The #5Gcoronavirus conspiracy claims are caused by bad grammar – a thread. Like many people I have relatives who are into conspiracy theories, and occasionally send them to me on WhatsApp. In this case, one in particular believes #5G is causing health problems.

My first feature in @ozm just came out: on scientists researching early-stage ideas for multi-generational, interstellar space travel. It's been a long time in the making. Here are a few notes from behind the scenes. onezero.medium.com/scientists-are… I found this story by going down a rabbit hole into hydroponics. I was researching what was going to be a piece on the future of food production & started browsing arXiv for new papers in that vein. What I found was Frédéric Marin's paper on space farming: arxiv.org/abs/1901.09542