The study examines the impact of exposing Democrats and Republicans to opposing political views on Twitter through a field experiment. Researchers surveyed a large sample of Twitter users who visit the platform at least three times a week and then randomly assigned them to follow either a liberal or conservative Twitter bot for one month. The bots retweeted messages from elected officials, opinion leaders, media organizations, and nonprofit groups with opposing political ideologies. The results show that Republicans who followed a liberal Twitter bot became more conservative post-treatment, while Democrats exhibited slightly more liberal attitudes after following a conservative Twitter bot, although these effects were not statistically significant. The study highlights the complex dynamics of political polarization and the potential for virtual contact to either reduce or exacerbate partisan divisions, depending on the context and the nature of the interactions. Despite its limitations, the research has significant implications for understanding political polarization and the role of social media in shaping political attitudes.The study examines the impact of exposing Democrats and Republicans to opposing political views on Twitter through a field experiment. Researchers surveyed a large sample of Twitter users who visit the platform at least three times a week and then randomly assigned them to follow either a liberal or conservative Twitter bot for one month. The bots retweeted messages from elected officials, opinion leaders, media organizations, and nonprofit groups with opposing political ideologies. The results show that Republicans who followed a liberal Twitter bot became more conservative post-treatment, while Democrats exhibited slightly more liberal attitudes after following a conservative Twitter bot, although these effects were not statistically significant. The study highlights the complex dynamics of political polarization and the potential for virtual contact to either reduce or exacerbate partisan divisions, depending on the context and the nature of the interactions. Despite its limitations, the research has significant implications for understanding political polarization and the role of social media in shaping political attitudes.