Facebook's News Feed algorithm treated angry emoji reactions as 5x more valuable than Likes, amplifying controversial content.
Internal documents reveal that starting in 2017 Facebook gave extra value to emoji reactions, including 'angry', pushing more emotional and provocative content into users' news feeds. The theory was that posts that prompted lots of reaction emoji tended to keep users more engaged, and keeping users engaged was the key to Facebook's business. This was revealed in disclosures made to the SEC and Congress by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Link
