Is Social Media to Blame for It All?
We often hear the phrase “Twitter isn’t real life” as a reminder to take online spats with a pinch of salt. But with the U.S. Capitol riot, we’ve been painfully reminded of social media's power. There are few better people to understand how we got here than tech journalist Kara Swisher. A New York Times columnist and podcaster, Swisher has charted the rise of the internet since 1994, challenging the claims of Silicon Valley's biggest names while warning the public of big tech's ever-growing power. As both the ultimate insider and one of big tech's most perceptive critics, she's been named among the "most feared and well-liked journalists" in Silicon Valley.
In this week’s episode of The Good Fight, Yascha Mounk and Kara Swisher discuss what regulations for big tech look like in practice, the role of social media in populist politics, and whether online vitriol is an accurate reflection of public opinion.
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Email: goodfightpod@gmail.com
Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk
Website: http://www.persuasion.community
Podcast production by John T. Williams and Rebecca Rashid
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Is Social Media to Blame for It All?
It is also notable that only one and five adults in the US even use twitter. I don't know that this point gets enough attention.
If one is in the social media bubble, and experiencing its effects, either benign or malign, one is in the vast minority of the adult population.
https://www.omnicoreagency.com/twitter-statistics/
On tone, I found Swisher hard to listen to so I quit. On substance, she seemed to miss What seems to me the key Problem, which is not the platform that social media gives to already high profile people but the way it amplifies otherwise obscure dangerous lunatics. Cutting off Trump is (arguably perhaps) important not because he wouldn’t have a platform otherwise but because it allows him to assemble a Twitter mob.