Depends on what you mean by "algorithmic boosting". If you mean, "this user viewed A, B, and C. Other users who viewed them also viewed D; let's show D to thi

Depends on what you mean by "algorithmic boosting". If you mean, "this user viewed A, B, and C. Other users who viewed them also viewed D; let's show D to this user", then no, that's not an editorial slant or an editorial choice. That's an unbiased algorithm driven by users' choices. If you mean, "Let's identify posts that are related to position Y on subject Z, and boost them extra", then yes, I agree that is an editorial slant. My impression is that, when people talk about "editorial control", they usually include the first kind, not just the second. So: How much of the second kind is going on? More than none, I agree, but how much? Does anyone have data? If not, then we're left with impressions, and my impression is that it's fairly small. (Rather, that it's a quite small number of topics, but since it's probably fairly popular topics it may still amount to a fair number of user impressions.)