Online victory is often about abusing others rather than winning hearts and mindsIf you could press a button and eliminate
Social Media platforms from the world, would you do it? Listen to the testimony of
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen over the last month and it might appear that turning back the clock is a no-brainer. Haugen revealed to legislators in the US and
UK how Facebook pursued policies it knows to be harmful – algorithms that push out a diet of misinformation, rage and hate – in the cause of profit.
Many of us feel the toxic impacts of social media even as we enjoy its benefits: the natural inclination to harden your position after being subjected to a torrent of abuse from people on the other side. The attraction of reading and liking content that shores up, rather than challenges, your beliefs. The knowledge that much of your motivation in sharing those holiday snaps is showing off. But it’s unhelpful to talk about social media harms as though its users are a homogenous mass. Not everyone is equally susceptible and an emerging research base points to traits such as low self-esteem, insecurity and anxiety that might make some people more vulnerable to social media’s darkest corners: radicalisation into ideologies such as the far right, Islamist extremism or violent misogyny; the social contagion of self-harm; and the conspiracy theories that underpin contemporary anti-vax sentiment.