The claim that US-specific factors could produce US-specific algorithmic polarization effects is speculative and lacks empirical support in the bound corpus.
Boxell et al. (2024) found that affective polarization fell in many developed democracies with similar internet and social media diffusion to the US, including countries using the same platforms with similar algorithmic systems.
The framing requires causal evidence with credible identification, not post-hoc speculation about unmeasured interaction effects between algorithms and country-specific factors.
Argument from Lack of Evidence (Negative Evidence)
Is the absence of positive evidence strong enough to justify concluding ¬A, or only to justify withholding belief in A?
Is the absence of evidence due to absence of investigation rather than to A's being false?
Could disconfirming or null findings have been suppressed, unpublished, or systematically under-reported (file-drawer / publication bias)?
Has the investigative regime actually been adequate (well-funded, well-powered, well-designed) to detect E if A were true?
Could A be true but produce only a weak signal that escapes detection at the prevailing statistical thresholds?