Social media and extremism: the science behind how non-traditional media impacts what we believe

COURTENEY MALIN – When the inventors of social media platforms reflected on their products, they believed social media would create a disruption. The inventors had a rosy view of how their products would influence people’s lives in the future. They had limited monitoring, limited regulations, and few rules. They did not comprehend the numerous ways that social media would change the world. 

However, the impacts of a new information delivery system were seen hundreds of years ago with the printing press. When the printing press became widely available, the gatekeepers of information switched from churches and royalty to those rich enough to purchase or use a printing press. The printing press helped the rich incite violence against minority groups and spread misinformation. Martin Luther used the printing press to pass out anti-Semitic pamphlets, “On the Jews and Their Lies” in 1543. This resulted in the burning of synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses. 

Before the printing press, kings and the church controlled the information. After the introduction of the printing press, the wealthy and influential gained control of public knowledge. Printing companies built relationships with writers to create lucrative news companies. Similarly, after the release of social media, the gatekeeper of information shifted again. Traditional media companies relinquished their control to any person capable of writing or speaking on the internet. 

Historians are not surprised that social media has spread extremist views. Whenever the gatekeeper of information changes so does the information, and those consuming the news have to find new ways to filter out what is true and what is false. 

Since anyone can create content on social media, the information is not proofed for accuracy. This leaves the consumer to decide what is true and false for himself. When the same opinion or idea is fed to someone constantly through an algorithm, then the person has limited choice but to believe what he has seen. All of the evidence points in one direction. 

According to researchers, this is how extreme viewpoints develop. People are constantly exposed to one idea, so it becomes their reality. Reality is often not questioned, so when another viewpoint is presented, it is interpreted as false. Extremism requires a desire to believe in something as well as isolation from other information. People who develop extreme viewpoints often personally benefit from holding them. They also seek out information that further supports what they believe. On social media, the amount of content and algorithms make this simple. 

People with extreme viewpoints often isolate themselves from other ideas by denying their validity as well as surrounding themselves with people with similar thoughts. Before social media, someone would have to actively seek out other people and meet them. Today, a person can join a group on Facebook that shares the same ideas, effectively sequestering themselves from other viewpoints.

However, the extent to which exposure to extreme viewpoints affects our behavior is debated. Some research supports social media extremism increasing violence while other research has found no correlation. Nevertheless, most researchers agree that social media has the ability to promote extremism and gives people the opportunity to seek out extremist viewpoints. 

Photography Source: Bianca Patel, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/24/opinion/sunday/facebook-twitter-terrorism-extremism.html