This got me curious about where I fall in the distribution. Checked my browser history between the start of October and today and I got 1.4%. I would’ve thought my usage would fall in the high end, but apparently, their threshold for high is over 4%. Interestingly, there’s at least one person who was above 15%.

The paper gives an interesting definition of Machiavellianism

Machiavellians are characterized by strategic thinking and a desire for control and influence over their environment

This sounds like it should describe any human being that has (or is trying to get) their shit together, no? The Oxford Languages definition (and how they use it in the rest of the paper) is more in line with how I would use the word:

cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous behavior or character.

Also, you can’t be surprised that people come in to defend themselves when you call them unpleasant asshats. Especially so when the paper doesn’t say that. They compared high usage vs low usage individuals, not users vs non-users.