The algorithmic weapons aimed at our democracies

By The Big Story

This is part two in a five-part series called Interconnected, detailing how technology is changing humanity.


Renée DiResta is the technical research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory. Among other things, she studies the abuse of online platforms and how narratives arise and spread across social media.

DiResta says that false information has always existed in the media, but the difference today is that “the information is curated for you.” Instead of seeing social media posts from friends and followers in chronological order, internet algorithms push posts with the most likes, comments, and shares to the top of users’ phone screens.

“Sometimes this is a good thing,” DiResta says. “Content that maybe wouldn’t have been picked up by editorial gatekeepers gets seen.” On the other hand, “sometimes it leads to things that are very sensational or highly emotional, but not necessarily factually accurate, going viral,” she says.

This is especially dangerous when bad actors get involved. Like, for instance, when powerful state governments create fake accounts to tweet or re-tweet inflammatory content in order to amplify their propaganda or foment division.

“How do the structures that we create online exacerbate perhaps the worst tendencies of human behaviour?” asks DiResta. Adding that we should be thinking about better design systems that “create perhaps healthier communities online.”

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