Invisible Rulers

Right now, notifications about sensational ragebait, Main Character harassment mobs, or feeds that reward spamming are the default. But three broad design shifts could mitigate these destructive dynamics and minimize the risk of technical triumphs becoming social disasters. The first applies Simon’s guidance to the curation systems that steer our a

1. Name calling—giving an idea a bad label—is used to make us reject and condemn the idea without evidence. 2. Glittering generality—associating something with a “virtue word”—is used to make us accept and approve the thing without evidence. 3. Transfer carries over the authority, sanction, or prestige of something respected and revered in order to ma

is vital for an informed public, and government can prioritize it in three areas: in disclosing state actor influence operations to the public, in declaring their own takedown requests, and in ensuring that outside researchers have the tools necessary to study the powerful private actors of Big Tech.

The final role for government in ensuring transparency is to empower independent researchers.

One area where regulators should concentrate, however, is commercial speech and paid political speech that goes undisclosed by influencers. Consumers have a right to be informed about the financial incentives of the people who promote products and politicians.

Another IPA guide laid out seven “tricks of the trade”—rhetorical devices by which the invisible ruler attempts to sway the crowd:

More generally, however, rather than focusing on the specifics of moderation, government regulators can focus on increasing transparency surrounding the practice. Transparency

As storytellers, influencers use the same techniques as screenwriters, novelists, and playwrights: familiarity, novelty, and repetition.

“Report-Analyze-Publicize.”