updated 1y ago
The internet's "town square" is dead
- Few serious observers can consider what we might call the “public square” platforms—particularly Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the public square’s library, Google—a boon to democracy. Nor are they a flourishing intellectual marketplace. Although it is tempting to shrug at their problems by comparing them to the heated partisan newspapers of the e... See more
from Why Speech Platforms Can Never Escape Politics | National Affairs by Jon Askonas
Putting aside the mechanics of algorithmic feeds, it feels like there’s often a mismatch between the international user base of a platform and the national “democracy” about which these points are being made
Paulina Paucic and added
Twitter forces nuanced thoughts down to bumper-sticker bluntness. The chaotic, always moving newsfeed leaves little time for reflection on whatever has just been read. The algorithm’s obsession with likes and retweets means users mainly see (and produce) speech that flatters their community or demonizes those they already loathe. The quote tweet fu
... See morefrom Opinion | the Great Delusion Behind Twitter - The New York Times by New York Times
sari added