>I mean, most of FAANG has been US values being globalized.
Well given that we know Russia, China, and North Korea all have massive campaigns to misinform everyone on these platforms, I think I disagree with the premise. It's spread a sort of fun house mirror version of US values, and the consequences seem to be piling up. The recent elections in places like Argentina, Italy, and The Netherlands seem to show that far-right populism is becoming a theme. Anecdotally it's taking hold in Canada as well.
People are now worried about problems they have never encountered. The Republican debate yesterday spending a significant amount of time on who has the strictest bathroom laws comes to top of mind at how powerful and ridiculous these social media bubbles are.
It's 110% US values -- free speech for all who can pay.
Coupled with a vestigial strain of anything-goes-on-the-internet. (But not things that draw too much political flak)
The bubbles aren't the problem; it's engagement as a KPI + everyone being neurotic. Turns out, we all believe in at least one conspiracy, and presenting more content related to that is a reliable way (the most?) to drive engagement.
You can't have democratic news if most people are dumb or insane.
Fully agreed, but the conspiracies are now manufactured at a rate that would've been unfathomable 20 years ago. I have a friend who knows exactly 0 transgender people in life who, when talking politics, it's the first issue that comes up. It's so disheartening that many people equate Trump to being good for the world because they aren't able to make off-color jokes without being called out anymore, or because the LGBTQIA+ agenda is ruining schools. Think of the children! This person was (seemingly) totally reasonable before social media.
Well given that we know Russia, China, and North Korea all have massive campaigns to misinform everyone on these platforms, I think I disagree with the premise. It's spread a sort of fun house mirror version of US values, and the consequences seem to be piling up. The recent elections in places like Argentina, Italy, and The Netherlands seem to show that far-right populism is becoming a theme. Anecdotally it's taking hold in Canada as well.
People are now worried about problems they have never encountered. The Republican debate yesterday spending a significant amount of time on who has the strictest bathroom laws comes to top of mind at how powerful and ridiculous these social media bubbles are.